Body and Soul
by honeysucle10
Summary: Frisk messed up a second time. But he already sold his soul to Chara. My, my whatever else could he POSSIBLY trade to go back again? (Chara x Frisk, both are male.)
1. Chapter 1

**Quick Author's Note:**

I thought I might as well post this fanfiction here as well since I made this account years ago and never used it... So just some quick notes on this:

Frisk and Chara are both males anywhere from 16-18 years old, whatever you want them to be.

Though I know you can totally get away with uploading explicit stuff on here since I see it all the time, I'm aware it's against the rules, and I'm a stickler when it comes to rules, so I won't post the explicit/sexual stuff in this version. Since, however, there's still mature themes, language and what may be considered 'graphic violence' I'll keep it rated M.

Archive of Our Own is extremely loose with what you can post content-wise, so that's where you'll find the complete story (and most likely more frequent updates).

Thank you, and enjoy, my Charisk sinners.

* * *

Blackness. That's all that could be seen; a dark, silent abyss of nothingness that seemed to possess no beginning or end.

Frisk looked around disoriented, confused, as if he had just snapped out of a long daydream. It was so dark he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed, or perhaps he was still unconscious, or dreaming. In any case it was causing an increasing uneasiness within him, and he focused hard to remember the last thing that happened before this.

There was nothing for what seemed like a few minutes, but then at once it all came rushing back; Flowey, Asgore, Sans, Papyrus, Toriel. He inhaled sharply and looked around frantically, realization of what he'd done and where he was hitting him like a train.

He heard a soft menacing laughter that seemed to echo off nonexistent walls. It gradually drew closer until a familiar young man with a green striped shirt, shoulder length brown hair, and crimson red eyes slowly appeared out of the darkness. Frisks heartbeat quickened and he was frozen wide eyed in fear as the boy stepped closer.

"Greetings, partner..." he said calmly with an unsettling grin. "Welcome back."

Frisk tried to control his breathing. This couldn't be happening. How could he have done this a _second_ time? Once again the regret struck his core only after it was too late.

"W...what have I done...?" He stared down at his hands, eyes wide with disbelief. He felt like he was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Why, you've destroyed their world a second time, Frisk. And well done, I must say. This time around was even more brutal than the first."

Frisk just blinked up at him.

"You defeated him once, then went back two more times, simply out of curiosity as to how he'd respond. To remind him that his pathetic attempts to protect his world were utterly futile." Chara sent him another creepy smirk.

"N...no... I...it was a mistake, I didn't want...th-this...again..." Frisk murmured, staring down at the ground of nothingness he was somehow seated upon.

Chara raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you want to go back again?"

Frisk slowly raised his head, and Chara scoffed as he saw the other's watery eyes. "Well…I'm afraid that is not possible, for there is nothing more I desire from you."

Frisk swallowed hard and stared up at his sinister counterpart. "P-please..."

Chara just glared down at him coldly.

"Y...you mean I'm just...stuck here...forever...?"

Chara was silent for a moment, then he smiled and started with that haunting chuckle again as he slowly disappeared.

"Wait! Ch-Chara! Wait! Don't leave me here!" The soft sound of laughter echoed again before eventually disappearing. Frisk hugged his knees close, rocking slightly, and looking around the emptiness in vain. "I don't want to be alone. Please. Please, don't leave me alone." he mumbled repeatedly as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed in this black purgatory. Could have been mere minutes, hours, hell it could have been days. There was absolutely no way to tell; nothing to give him any indication that life ever existed in the first place. And it was driving him insane.

He eventually mustered up the will to climb to his feet and walk around a bit. He doubted it'd do him much good as far as fixing anything, but it appealed to him more than sitting in one spot and brooding. He walked and walked, it didn't matter which way he went, it all led to the same place. He wandered aimlessly until his legs got tired. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. He'd never felt so isolated in his life.

He sat down again and closed his eyes. His mind was the only place he could see anything anymore. He curled into himself as he remembered times with his friends. His friends he betrayed in the worst way he possibly could. He hated himself for not doing it once, but _twice_. Did he value them that little? He didn't know anymore. He still couldn't believe he'd stooped so low for the sake of variance.


	2. Chapter 2

It didn't start out this way. In fact, when he first fell into the underground he was completely overwhelmed. After the flower with the pellets he was constantly on edge, unsure of whether or not he could trust even the friendliest of monsters.

Toriel got way too close for comfort. He was very intimidated by Froggit's strength. He did not want Vegetoid's greens. Migosp was weird as hell. Whimsun was the only one that didn't scare him, and really the only type of monster he spared in the ruins.

He was terrible at dodging attacks, so his first reaction was to fight, and if his health plummeted to where he feared for his life, run away. He was frightened, he didn't ask for these monsters to jump out at him like that. In his opinion, it was self-defense, and they were asking for it for tormenting him with their weird desire to battle him.

A little while in he stumbled upon the ghost, Napstablook. He felt kinda bad for him, he seemed harmless enough and actually came off as a bit depressed. He cheered him on, and cheered for his little tear-hat trick just to make him feel better. He was cool.

Then he made it to Toriel's house. She had actually really creeped him out his first time through. Her possessiveness, it generally reminded him of those creepy mothers in horror movies; the ones that don't let their kids leave the house, yet act all happy-go-lucky like they're not totally insane. Needless to say, he did not eat that pie. And he killed her on the way out. What? Crazy bitch wouldn't let him leave.

Though, hearing her dying words and watching her crumple to dust like that instantly made him regret his decision. He bolted out of there as fast as he could, as if running away would make him forget that he had, in a way, officially made himself a murderer. The small monsters seemed to him the equivalent of killing a pesky wild animal, like a raccoon or possum, something like that. But Toriel...she was much more "human-like." And that's what made his heart break.

After having his anxiety heightened to no end from the sounds and shadows in the forest outside those purple gates, he eventually made it to a bridge of sorts. That's where he met Sans, who, in his opinion, was the most trust-worthy monster he'd come across so far.

Then he met his brother, Papyrus, who he had feared initially, hearing how he wanted to capture him and take him to some king that would kill him and take his soul. But after a few puzzles he realized that, even if he tried to act tough, he was just a sweet, funny, little goofball at heart. It was Papyrus who had cracked open his eyes and heart to the possibility that monsters weren't all bad. He spared him. Not only that, he didn't even lay a finger on him, despite his fear of being captured. The guy was just too sweet.

His friend Undyne on the other hand…she terrified him. He was actually happy to get knocked off that cliff, it gave him a break from her murderous chase. He encountered Napstablook again, as he had saved him from that enraged dummy. He chilled at his place for a little while, tried, or at least attempted to try a ghost sandwich, and they lied on the ground like garbage and got high on ghost music for a nice while. Nap had shown him his snail farm, and he even participated in his little snail race game. Twice. It was a rip off. First time he somehow set his snail on fire from cheering too hard, and the second time he won. The prize? 9 gold, though the price to play was 10.

By the time he was done swimming through tem flakes and Aaron's muscles, he was in no mood to deal with anymore of Undyne's bullshit. He was sick of hearing about how she was going to take his soul. He never asked for any of this, he just wanted to go home. But still she persisted. Fine. She wanted a fight, he'd give her a fight. He battled that fish bitch and gladly took the opportunity to kill her.

He felt no guilt over this until Papyrus started worrying about her. And her little, yellow, unofficial girlfriend kept talking about her. It was very obvious…especially after he picked "Undyne" on Mettaton's quiz show. Mettaton was fun. He realized well before he fought him in the Core that he had no intention of hurting him. And his flamboyant, TV host attitude was quite amusing; it helped him take his mind off the seriousness of his mission.

Alphys was harmless, but kind of a pain in the ass. She was nice, very nice, but the constant status updates and rants about that 'Mew Mew Kissy Cutie' thing was a little much for him. Especially when he was just trying to get through those endless steam puzzles in that lava filled cavern. He's not gonna lie though, her nerdy hacking skills came in handy on more than a few occasions, and he was sure to thank her for it, but he was not about to go so far as to watch that Mew Mew anime. He had to get home. That was his objective, right?

He killed Muffet. He hated spiders. He didn't want her spider pastries. And that "pet" of hers was pure nightmare fuel. He was going to give her a chance. He tried bribing her with money, but that didn't do much. He was losing health fast, unable to dodge her quick attacks, especially the ones with the monster cupcake, so screw her. She should have just let him go. That was her problem, not his.

He buzzed through the Core, killing lots of monsters along the way. He was going to have to fight the king soon, and he realized at a point that killing made him stronger. Better attack, better defense, higher health, the money didn't hurt either. He fought Mettaton in all his flamboyant glory. Well, actually he just struck sexy poses, boasted of his dodging abilities, and did sassy heel turns at the audience. Then he ate a steak shaped like Mettaton's face, which sent their ratings through the roof and made the fabulous robot forget about fighting him altogether. Good thing too, his arms and legs had already fallen off. Perhaps he had hit him too hard with the yellow pea shooter? In any case that was a huge relief to Alphys. What would she have done if she found her precious robot trashed beyond repair?

He wandered through the kingdom for a long time, met Sans again, with whom he had a meaningful conversation, then eventually made it to Asgore. He was anxious when he met him, but he seemed like such a nice guy. He wouldn't have fought him had he not destroyed his option for mercy. He fought, reluctantly, but still with intent to win. If only one could live it was going to be him. With all the monsters he had killed in preparation for this fight, it wasn't too hard. He was glad he had the option to spare him in the end though. And he was more than willing, had that fuckin' flower not come out and ruined it all.

Nothing could have prepared him for the insanity to come. Flowey was a bigger psycho than he ever imagined possible of a stupid flower. He fought and died to that _monstrosity_ so many times Flowey accused him of getting off on being killed at his hands. Or fuckin' vines? Really, that thing was the definition of _'what the fuck.'_

With the help of the other human souls he managed to defeat Flowey. Or at least knock him back to his harmless plant form. He had a choice. _To kill or not to kill._ He pondered that more than any choice he'd made so far. With a wrench in his gut, he hesitantly chose to spare him. Again and again. Until Flowey threatened to kill everyone he loved. It ignited a familiar rage within him and he killed that damn flower, one swipe sending the little devil back to its original, unanimated state. He stared at it a few moments before crossing the barrier.

He remembered nothing other than getting a call from Sans at some point. How he got his number, he had no idea. Then, without warning, everything reset and he was right back where he started.

He was so confused. Why had this happened? _How_ had this happened? He had literally gone back in time to the moment he awoke from his fall. He was panicked and frustrated until he realized…this was his chance to do it right. He got another chance at this, a reset of sorts. Cautiously optimistic of the situation, he made his way through once more.

He promised himself he'd spare them all. He was trying, but it was very difficult when one hit would knock out a fourth of his health. How on earth was he supposed to do this when he was quite possibly the weakest thing down here? Health only but a sliver, a single hit from one of Froggit's flies was all it took to kill him. But, somehow, he came back.

Wait. He had come back every time Flowey killed him too. Their battle was so intense this didn't even occur to him until now. Could it be that…he had some sort of divine power that prevented him from dying? Was he…immortal? He had no answers to these questions, for this was all very new. He just went through with confidence and tried not to think of _what_ exactly was granting him this power. Though without fear of death, it certainly made sparing everyone a lot easier.

He interacted with the monsters. They weren't nearly as frightening as he first perceived them to be. He ate Toriel's pie, talked with her, listened to her snail facts, he even playfully flirted with her on the phone. Then he called her mom and flirted with her again, which confused the poor old woman to no end.

When he decided it was time to move along he went through the motions in the basement, and when it came time to fight her, he didn't touch her. She hadn't the heart to hurt him either, he realized this now. After a tense and emotional "battle" she gave him a hug and wished him the best. Why hadn't he seen this before? There was nothing wrong with any of these guys. Fear and paranoia had made him see this world in such a hostile light. He was increasingly thankful he got this chance to start over.

He spared everyone he encountered in Snowdin. He played with the dogs, all they had really wanted was to be pet, even Doggo, suspicious as he was. In Snowdin town he took time to interact with all the townsfolk. And after their battle, he even went on a date with Papyrus.

He did the same thing in Waterfall, interacting with and sparing everyone. When it came to Undyne he was determined to show her the best in him. Being the stubborn woman she is, she wouldn't allow him to spare her. He had to run from her several times and lure her into Hotland, where she dried out almost immediately. All it took was a cup of cold water on her face to prove he meant well, though she wouldn't admit it right away.

He soon came to find out she meant well too, for he had hung out with her and Papyrus later that day. It was crazy, and fun, and destructive to the point it ended with her house burning down. He felt pretty guilty about that, but he made up for it later by playing a little matchmaker with her and Alphys. They really were cute together. The brains and the brawn; one a perfect complement to the other.

He continued through Alphys' horror setting of a lab, sparing every squishy, mushy, ghost thing no matter how much they gave him the willies. Everyone met up with him when he went to confront the king. Some whimsical antics occurred, and everything was lighthearted fun until the flower showed up to crash the party again. Except this time in battle he turned into a rainbow-shooting demon goat; because that made perfect sense.

In any case, that battle was way easier than it looked, for his soul absolutely refused to break. He saved his friends, he hugged Asriel goodbye, and he met up with everyone near the shattered barrier. They had some pretty hilarious conversations, Toriel learned to text, and she texted him the entire time he was talking to everyone else in the underground.

Then they all went to the surface. Frisk even brought that snowman piece, despite how many times he was tempted to consume it for the extra health. They watched the sunrise together, his friends seeing it all for the first time in their lives. It was a beautiful, incredibly touching moment they shared. Frisk had nowhere to go, no home or real family of his own, so he lived with Toriel. She had practically become his mother throughout this journey. Papyrus got his car, Undyne and Alphys were really hitting it off, Mettaton brought Napstablook and Shyren out of their shells and into the spotlight, in short everyone was living the dream. And not to sound cheesy, but they all lived happily ever after…

Until Frisk got bored.

Yeah sure, everyone was living their dreams, either becoming huge successes or enjoying a perfect, carefree life, but what about Frisk? Sure, he took part in a lot of their fun, but he had no special talent of his own. Nothing much to keep him entertained when no one else was around. Even Toriel, who used to be there all the time for him, was now spending more and more time with Sans. Eventually he felt like he was sitting on the sidelines to everyone else's lives.

It was starting to become so routine. He'd wake up, Toriel would have some kind of breakfast pie, Papyrus would be up to something, but it didn't directly involve him like it used to, Undyne and Alphys were so wrapped up in each other he'd be shocked if they remembered there _were_ other people in the world to socialize with, Mettaton was too busy with the next episode of whatever show he was starring in that day to spend any one-on-one time with him anymore, and Sans was either being lazy or flirting with his goat mom. Which pretty much left him diddling around all day by himself.

Napstablook had kind of become his new best buddy, since he seemed to be the only one who hadn't completely forgotten he existed. But even still, all they ever did was lie around and listen to music together. Nothing new.

His feelings on this escalated over time from first being subtle sadness of being left out, to loneliness and withdrawal, to irritant, then to an angry jealousy, and finally to verbalization of how pissed off he was. But that did nothing to help. In fact, all that did was make his friends withdraw from him more. Toriel telling him he's overreacting, Sans always making some stupid pun at the worst time and never taking his feelings seriously, at some point Papyrus started calling him grumpy pants, a nickname that stuck despite Frisk's obvious protests, even Napstablook seemed more avoidant. This just fueled his anger further.

 _'This isn't how it was supposed to end._

 _Everyone was supposed to be happy, me too._

 _Hell, if anyone deserves to be happy, it's me!_

 _If it weren't for my good deeds they wouldn't even be here!_

 _Selfish bastards..._

 _Don't they know what I'm capable of?!_

 _I'll show them…_

 _I'LL SHOW THEM!'_

That night Frisk lied in his bed and carefully considered his intentions.

 _'I just want to teach them a lesson._

 _I just wanna let my anger out a little._

 _Hear something new for a change._

 _Is that so wrong?_

 _I mean, I can go back anytime._

 _It's harmless._

 _Everything will be just fine._

 _I'll get it out of my system, go back, bring them back here, everything will be just like now._

 _And they'll forget about all this stupid 'Oh hey, let's see who can ignore Frisk the most' bullshit._

 _Yeah._

 _They won't ignore me after this._

 _I'll show them.'_

And with that, Frisk took a deep breath, reached deep inside himself, and willed the world to reset.

And so it was.


	3. Chapter 3

A third time, he awoke in the flower patch. And this time, his heart held a deep, childish vengeance.

 _'I'll show them. I'll show them. I'LL SHOW THEM.'_ His words resounded in his head as he began.

He dodged the pellets, it made no difference, but why not piss of the little shit? That's the whole point this time around.

 _'I just want to see the look on their faces when I tear this place apart. I can't die. I can reset everything whenever I want. They're nothing more than an illusion in the face of my power.'_

He went through the motions with Toriel. Then, he proceeded to slaughter everything in the ruins. He'd seek them out, wait patiently for them, whatever it took. He did this until there was absolute silence, until everything down there was dead as the leaves piled under that creepy black tree in front of Toriel's house.

He learned Nap couldn't die. Fine. He pissed him off less than anyone else, and really didn't do anything that would warrant a death sentence in his eyes.

He loved it that no one remembered him. It'd be so awkward if they did. This was perfect. Glorious anonymity. Like a mask. A killer wearing a mask. And now it was time for the murder spree.

Toriel fell in one strike. He was amazed at his strength. He thought he'd have an edge from killing all those monsters, but this…this was pure domination! And it began to consume him.

Sans realized there was something off about him from the moment he met him. Maybe the lazy bastard was smarter than he gave him credit for. He was in no mood for his jokes or Papyrus' puzzles. He skipped through all of them. _What could they do about it?_ With each passing minute he was further embracing his gift of pure invulnerability.

He slaughtered the dogs. When it came to that lovely nose nuzzle pair he murdered Dogaressa first. Then watched Dogamy whimper and whine over her a bit before taking him too.

Sans was growing increasingly creeped out by him, and threatened to give him a "bad time" if he dared hurt his innocent brother. ' _Really?'_ Sans was threatening him? ' _How scary.'_ What was he gonna do, _sit on him?_

By the time he got to Snowdin Town it was completely evacuated, except for that little armless fanboy. And Papyrus. _Papyrus..._ Despite his anger, he was still hesitant to kill him; especially when he reached out for that hug of acceptance.

Something took over him in that moment, some sort of vile, sinister rage... He thrust out his arm and slit his throat, watching his head fall clean off his body. Only a hint of regret as the skeleton faded away, claiming to still believe in him despite his gruesome actions.

In Waterfall, Sans was nowhere to be seen. It was far more quiet than usual. Only now was mad dummy happy. Only when he goes in with intent to kill does that PMSing little shit turn into Mr. Sunshine. He ripped the stuffing right out of that joyful face.

And that kid. That stupid, naive kid. He was annoying as hell, but he was still just a child. He felt slightly guilty for what he was about to do, especially when the little thing started quivering in front of him. He was trying to stop him. How noble. How cute. How... _incredibly stupid._

He took a swing at him, but Undyne jumped in at the last second and took the blow. ' _Nice.'_ He smiled as he stared at her body slowly splitting apart. He hoped her girlfriend was watching. No longer would he be ignored by those two and their lovey-dovey lesbian fest.

But. Undyne was tougher than he thought. Way tougher. She came back like a beast and destroyed him. Several times. Where had all her strength come from? It didn't matter. He wasn't giving up. He fought her over and over until finally, sweet victory. Oh how he relished in her demise.

He moved onto Hotland, slaying what seemed like an endless number of Pyropes, Tsunderplanes, and Vulkins. And much like the dog couple, he slayed 02 right in front of 01, listening to his anguished cries from within his armor before putting him out of his misery.

Burgerpants was the only one left at the Mettaton Resort. He messed with him a little, weirded him out for fun, then quickly moved on into the core to finish the job with the real boss.

 _'Wow. Such a disappointment.'_ He didn't even get to see Mettaton's new attacks; one strike from his knife completely took him down. ' _Oh well.'_

He continued through the castle, where Flowey tried to get all chummy on him. ' _Heh.'_ It didn't take long for him to grow damn sick of that little kiss-ass. He silently vowed to himself that he would make his death something to remember. The flower knew it. He could see it in his eyes. He chuckled as he was called a freak and continued into the golden corridor that lead to the throne room.

There he saw Sans. He wasn't afraid of him. Not even a little. He heeded none of his warnings and walked toward him slowly. This was going to be so easy. Sans closed his eyes as he approached.

"Welp. Sorry, old lady. This is why I never make promises."

 _Here we go._

Sans flashed forward, eyes closed. He looked surprisingly calm for being in the situation he was in. He began to speak, slowly, almost nostalgically.

"It's a beautiful day outside…"

"Birds are singing…"

"Flowers are blooming…"

"On days like these…kids like you..."

His eyes opened to reveal pitch black sockets.

 **"SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL."**

A blast, then the ever familiar sound of his soul cracking. He was dead before he knew it.

' _What...the fuck...was that?'_

Sans taunted him after every failed fight; causing his savage rage to grow with every restart. _Why wouldn't the fat fuck just die already?!_ He swung repeatedly, missing every time. Sans lost track of his death count, and after a while so did he. But every death just increased his sick desire to murder that cocky skeleton.

It seemed hopeless at many points. Like the number of deaths, he couldn't count how many times he wanted to throw in the towel, call it even and call it quits, but something within him just wouldn't allow him to give up now. Every couple fights he saw progress. He was getting a little further every time. A little quicker, a little smarter, a little more deadly to the skeleton that stood in his way. Sans really should have used that treadmill in his room, because, with just a sliver of health left, Frisk finally made it to the end of their battle, to the point where the lazy skeleton was too exhausted to continue.

They stood there panting. Frisk knew he was done, but he kept a sharp eye on him nonetheless. Sans was talking slowly, trying to hide his defeat, making final pathetic conversation to potentially persuade him to stop.

' _Oh no. To hell with that, Sans. Bored you say? Ha. That's a laugh. It's my boredom that brought me here, you fool. Now. Go on. Close your eyes. Take your final rest. I'll wait. I'm going to take great pleasure in this…'_

He waited. Minutes passed, which eventually ticked by to nearly an hour. Frisk was just sitting there, watching silently as Sans slowly fell asleep. His head was drooping. Shortly after, a subtle snore could be heard.

Then, he struck. The skeleton dodged the first attack, taunting him while doing so, but then, pure instinct drove him to swing once more. The force of that strike hit Sans beautifully, perfectly, leaving a long bloody gash across his chest. He had never felt so satisfied from winning a battle. He smiled as he watched the beaten skeleton choke out his final words and slowly disintegrate into dust.

He savored the moment, then looked toward to end of the corridor. It was time for Asgore. That coward, was he hiding in his flower garden the whole time this was going on? Was he completely oblivious? ' _C'mon, old man, our battle was causing shakes in the very foundation of this damn castle, there was no way you didn't feel it.'_

He proceeded to the garden, where he saw the big guy innocently watering his flowers. Asgore spoke to him as if he had no idea what had been going on. ' _Really? How responsible of a ruler... And no, I do not want to discuss it over tea.'_

He struck him and once again Flowey tried to suck up by overdoing his death with pellets. Flowey started begging for his life, trying to convince Frisk that he was a useful asset to his crimes. _Useful? That was a joke. Where was he when Sans was creaming his ass for hours on end?_ ' _Die, you slimy weed.'_ He pounded Flowey into the ground, mercilessly crushing his frail body with every stomp of his shoe.

Then there was darkness.

He froze.

 _'What...just happened...?'_

It was then that he first met Chara; a ghastly looking young man who was disturbingly similar to himself in terms of appearance.

He spoke softly as he appeared out of the darkness. "Greetings… I…am Chara." He locked eyes with Frisk and smiled. "Thank you…"

Frisk was speechless for a few seconds, his mouth agape. "F…for what…?" he responded meekly.

The other boy looked amused at this. "Your power awakened me from death. My 'human soul…' My...'determination…' They were not mine, but yours..."

Frisk blinked at him in perplexion and gripped his knife tighter, making the other chuckle slightly.

Chara looked off into the distant nothingness. "At first, I was so confused... Our plan had failed, hadn't it…? Why was I brought back to life?"

There was a brief silence.

 _"You."_

Chara was staring him dead in the eye. It sent shivers up Frisk's spine. His very presence was intimidating.

"With your guidance…I realized the purpose of my reincarnation."

A short pause.

"Power."

His body stiffened as Chara began to approach him.

"Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong."

Frisk's breathing staggered. He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. His throat was dry; he felt as if he had lost his voice.

"Health. Attack. Defense. Gold. Experience. Love... Every time a number increases, that feeling…"

His heart dropped into his stomach as Chara's empty, blood red eyes bore into his soul.

"That's me… _Chara."_

There was a short silence. Chara lightly placed a hand on Frisk's quivering shoulder.

Frisk just stared down at the knife he was clutching in his shaky hands, and the other snickered softly for a moment before speaking again.

"Now… Now, we have reached the absolute… There is nothing left for us here."

"Wh…what…?" Frisk asked in a cracked, barely audible voice, meeting his gaze once more.

"Erase this pointless world, Frisk."

Frisk stared wide eyed at him. "…E-erase…?"

Chara squeezed his shoulder. His expression looked significantly more deranged. "You have it cornered at the precipice of existence itself. Push it, Frisk. Send this wretched place into the depths of Hell."

The boy stood frozen, petrified with fear. "No…no, no…" he whispered under his breath, staring wide eyed at the ground and shaking his head.

"No…?"

Frisk made a choked sound and shook his head faster, guilt and terror rushing through him over what he'd done and the uncertainty of what would happen now. He felt Chara remove his hand.

"Hmm… How curious."

Chara walked away a few steps, his back turned to Frisk, who shuddered nervously as he heard the other laugh in a tone of disbelief. It slowly died down, and his voice returned to its original calm, eerie state.

"You must have misunderstood."

Suddenly he turned around. His eye sockets were empty, crying out some sort of black blood, and his mouth contorted in the most unnatural way, as if his jaw were dislocated, and was also spewing this substance.

 **"SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?"**

Frisk had no time to respond as this unholy thing briskly shambled towards him and swung his knife, killing him in an instant and hurling their unsalvageable world into the never-ending abyss.


	4. Chapter 4

Frisk was lying on some kind of cold, perfectly smooth floor. There was the subtle sound of howling wind, but no breeze could be felt. His eyes slowly fluttered open. The place was pitch black, so dark in fact he couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face.

' _Am I…dead...?_ _Is this...Hell...?'_ he wondered anxiously, a sudden fear thrumming through him.

He was conscious, or at least he presumed so, making death seem slightly more unlikely. Or perhaps people _were_ conscious in death. He really didn't know.

Frisk stood.

"H-hello...?" he called out meekly.

No one answered.

He felt panic gradually rising, and he worked hard to try to calm himself.

 _'It's...its ok... It's fine...it's perfectly fine…'_ He slowly stooped back down to a sitting position on the icy floor. _'I'll just reset it... This is nothing more than a...a bad dream...'_ He closed his eyes and focused hard, attempting to tap into that supernatural part of himself that allowed him such power.

 _'I can fix it... Go back... Reset... Reset...'_ "Reset..." his thoughts broke into a barely audible murmur.

But nothing happened.

He opened his eyes and his heart dropped seeing he was still in the blackness. ' _What? Why isn't it working? C'mon...reset... Reset! C'MON, damn it!'_

He let out an exasperated grunt as nothing changed.

 _'Go back! GO...BACK! Fucking RESET!_ ' He banged his fists against his head in aggravation, looking around in distress. _'Why?! Why isn't it working?! Why? Why...?'_

Frisk let his body drop to the ground in despair, tears silently rolling down his face as he continued to fruitlessly will the world to return to its former glory, every so often mouthing the word 'reset' along with other incoherent mumbles. This went on for about 10 minutes straight.

"Interesting."

His body shot up as he heard the sudden voice.

"You want to go back."

Frisk turned his head every which way, frantically searching for the owner of that too familiar voice.

There was a silent pause, save for the boy's sudden erratic breathing.

"You want to go back...to the world...you destroyed."

Frisk felt a presence behind him.

"It was you who pushed everything to its edge."

He turned around from his spot on the floor. No one was there. The voice echoed once more from behind him.

"It was you who led the world to its destruction."

He heard footsteps slowly approaching him. Closer and closer. He was frozen.

"But..."

The voice was right behind him, and its unnaturally calm tone sent shivers up him spine.

"You cannot accept it." A quiet ' _hm.'_ "You think you are above consequences..."

Frisk stared wide eyed at the ground, breathing shakily through his mouth.

"Don't you, Frisk?" the voice finished.

"A...ah...n..." Utterances escaped him as he shivered and nervously shook his head 'no'.

A short silence.

"Then what are you looking for?"

Frisk turned around, but once again the occupant of the voice was nowhere to be seen. That subtle chill was gone and he could only assume the other had moved away from him.

There was a long lonely silence.

 _'Why...? Why won't it let me go back...? I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't mean for it to go so far...'_ His eyes were welling up with more tears.

"Perhaps..."

He jumped.

"We can reach a compromise."

Frisk looked up to where the voice was echoing down from.

"You still have something I want. Give it to me." the voice demanded. "And I will bring this world back."

"Bring this world..." Frisk looked down and mumbled to himself. His head suddenly snapped back up and he jumped to his feet. "Yes! Oh God yes! Please! Take it! Take whatever you want, just send me back!" He held his arms out wide in an accepting manner, a wild, psychotic expression gracing him as he turned his body in every direction.

"Then it is agreed."

"Y-yes!" Frisk replied eagerly in the direction of the voice.

"You will give me your soul."

Frisk felt as though his heart stopped. He slowly lowered his arms and stared downward in disbelief. "Wh-...wha..." The thought sent a shudder through his core. "Y...you want my...m-my s-soul...?" he stuttered.

"Yes. Do we have an agreement or not, Frisk?"

Frisk stared at the ground with a pained expression, his breathing heavily staggered. "I..." He choked on his words. "I-I can't...I just...c-can't..." He heard a very quiet scoff.

"Then stay here for all eternity." the cold voice replied before abandoning him in the desolate blackness.

Frisk felt so hopeless. So alone. After sitting there for a long time in shock he attempted to gather himself and think about this logically.

If he gave up his soul, Chara would restore everything.

Everyone would be saved, happy, right back where they started.

And he'd finally get to leave this empty hell hole.

But.

What would that mean for him?

What _was_ a soul?

What was its _function?_

Would he still feel joy without it?

Pain?

What would happen when he eventually died?

And what exactly would Chara be getting out of taking it from him?

Surely it had a use. Some kind of power.

Or could it be that by surrendering his soul he was to become Chara's little marionette?

He shuddered at that thought.

But he couldn't just stay here.

His ability to reset time did not work in this place. He'd tried well over 100 times at this point.

 _'It'd be insane to continue like this any longer…'_

And thus Frisk made his decision.

"I...I'll do it…" he uttered, standing and looking up into the darkness. "Chara, I'll do it!" He still had his reservations, but deep down he knew this was the only way. Best to just get it over with and not prolong the anxiety any longer than need be. He fell to his knees, a defeated smile on his face. "I'll do it..." he choked.

…

"Then, it is done."

Before Frisk could even register what was happening he had a knife in his chest, slicing downward ever so slowly. Frisk let out a bloodcurdling scream that endured for a lengthy time, until his voice cracked and gave out on him, rendering him incapable of expelling anything other than pained gasps and choked screeches and whines.

It was absolutely excruciating; he barely realized that he could now see. He gawked in horror at his wound, which was bleeding profusely, then looked up at Chara who had once again taken on that demonic form, eyes and mouth leaking the very contents of this black atmosphere.

Chara suddenly yanked out the knife, causing the boy to choke loudly in agony.

 _"Hush, hush..."_

Frisk's whole body jerked and shuddered instinctively as Chara's fingers slipped into the wound. He could barely breathe. He felt the other's hand shifting around inside his chest, shuffling through his organs before grabbing something. There was a tugging, then a sudden sharp, agonizing rip, causing him to screech erratically before coughing up blood.

Chara had pulled something out of him.

Out of his _body…_

Through his uncontrollable coughs he looked up to see him holding a heart-like organ and staring at it with wild, pitch black eyes. It was beating, and glowing slightly red, the light reflecting on his beastly face.

Was that his... _soul...?_

He stared, horrified as Chara bit into it. His body convulsed upwards reflexively, as if the organ was still functioning within him. Another bite sent him tumbling down on his back again.

Chara consumed it bit by gory bit. He seemed to be enjoying the boy's reactive jolting and anguished cries.

After what seemed like forever to Frisk, Chara completely devoured it and smiled as the other stared up at him sobbing. His teeth were disgustingly red and his hands were covered in tiny organ bits and blood.

For but a moment, the demon boy's chest emitted a soft, red glow. He let out a satisfied hum and his appearance reverted back to normal.

"Oh, Frisk...it feels so good to have a soul inside me again..." he purred, licking the blood off his fingers seductively. "Absolutely divine..."

"P...pl...ease...k-kill...m...me..." Frisk gurgled through the blood pouring out of his mouth.

 _"Heh."_ He smirked and loomed over Frisk. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? My, my if only the beautiful sight of your suffering did not inhibit me so from putting you out of your misery..." he cooed down at him tauntingly.

"P...hu...plea...se..."

Chara let out an exasperated sigh. "...Very well."

With that he raised his foot over Frisk and swiftly stomped it down into his open wound; repeatedly crushing his vital organs and honoring their agreement.

The next time Frisk awoke he had returned to the very beginning of the ruins. The only remanence of his prior encounter was a long tear in his shirt with a matching scar in the same area.

His insides felt a little off, like something was missing. A strange emptiness. A hollow feeling where his will and determination usually stemmed from.

 _'So this is what it feels like to have no soul.'_

He had stayed in the flower patch far longer than usual, just thinking to himself. Oh, what he had given up so he could have his happy ending back...

But...something within him, his curiosity perhaps, did not want to achieve such permanency just yet. He didn't want to risk a craving for change that might cost them their happiness later on. There were so many possibilities down here. So many scenarios. Might as well experience everything this place had to offer before residing himself once more to the stable yet potentially repetitive life he knew last time.

He considered this carefully; he didn't want to end up in another nightmarish predicament. But. The first time he went through and killed all those monsters, nothing permanent happened. He wondered then, by staying within a realm of neutrality, could he explore different decisions and stories without permanent repercussions? It certainly made sense.

And with that he did so. Several runs, all within a neutral range, over the course of several weeks. He explored every aspect of the world, made every choice, saw every outcome.

He paid for Temmie's college, then bought the ridiculously expensive temmie armor after repeatedly selling products of dog residue.

He kept buying hotdogs, and a hotcat from sans, had him put 30 hotdogs on his head, then flung them every which way for fun. Sans seemed entertained by this too, though the waste of franks would probably put his stand out of business.

He bought a bunch of nice cream and watched bugs play games and build houses with his punch cards.

He called Papyrus in every room.

He poured ketchup all over his fries, and watched Sans guzzle a whole bottle of the stuff.

He played Nap's spooky tunes around Waterfall and scared Aaron out of his wits.

He bought the spider pastries, which came in handy later on.

He stayed the night in the hotels, purposely failed Mettaton's game shows to see what would happen, and chose all the answers regarding Alphys' crush.

He went through everything in Papyrus' and Undyne's house, roleplayed every option with Alphys about her date with Undyne, and chose different options throughout the puzzles with Sans and Papyrus.

In one run he tried being a dick to Papyrus, though it didn't change his naive, happy attitude toward him at all.

He tried the same with the monsters; he terrorized Whimsun, heckled Snowdrake 'til he slinked away utterly crushed, and told Vulkin his ass looked like a sack of trash.

He told Sans Papyrus wasn't cool. After his little genocide spree he never quite saw Sans the same way. When his pupils disappeared it now struck a genuine fear within him.

Eventually the actions taken became more heartless.

He consumed the snowman piece right in front of its prior owner.

He made Undyne chase him and...decided to see what would happen if he sadistically emptied the water cooler in front of her.

He tried every option with the kid. First, he ran away. Then he ignored him and charged forward to fight Undyne instead. And then...he watched as the boy slowly slipped from the ledge, unable to hold himself up due to his lack of arms.

It didn't take long for him to start the killing experiments again.

What happens if I kill you, you, but not you? What about only you? What about everyone _but_ you? He tried every combination.

Killed everyone but Papyrus, the naive skeleton became king and wondered when his friends would get back from "vacation."

Killed only Papyrus, he was a "dirty brother killer."

Left Undyne and Toriel alive after a fair kill fest, Undyne banished the poor woman to the ruins. Sans followed her regardless of if his brother was left alive or not, though in the case of the latter he deeply resented her love for Frisk, but refused to tell her what he'd done.

Killed Mettaton and Alphys committed suicide, sending Undyne so far into depression she hadn't even the fire in her heart to exact revenge on him.

In one he left only Sans and a few other monsters, eliciting a chilling phone call:

 _"Heya."_

 _"Is anyone there…?"_

 _"Well, I'll just leave a message…"_

 _"It's been a while, huh?"_

 _"…"_

 _"Things have gotten pretty bad here."_

 _"Everyone considered a leader disappeared overnight."_

 _"It's gotten so quiet."_

 _"There's a bad feeling hanging over everyone."_

 _"Like everyone's just going to die here, trapped in the dark…"_

 _"…I bet you're wondering why I'm not the ruler."_

 _"Eh."_

 _"I'm not cut out for something like that."_

 _"I like to take it easy, you know?"_

 _"…"_

 _"…That's a joke."_

 _"This is what happens when people like me take it easy."_

 _"…"_

 _"Hey, at least things are less crowded."_

 _"'Cause of all the people you killed."_

 _"Hope that was a good experience for you."_

 _"…"_

 _"Just kidding. I don't really hope that."_

 ** _"Go to hell."_**

…

It was that that made him wonder, if he dare...what would happen...if he beat Sans and went back. Sans remembered his death count, didn't he? So he would remember, if only within the fabric of that run-through, that he had been killed and revived. That would be so...interesting... And, if he was correct in his theory, it would be without consequence so long as he didn't persist onward after that.

His final curiosity.

Then he would have seen it all.

Then he would be satisfied.

So once again he began the killing spree. He went about it lacking both spite and remorse. It was just a step at this point. The motions he had to go through to reach his epic battle…

He beat him once and went back.

"…That expression that you're wearing... …Well, I won't grace it with a description."

He did it once more.

"…You're really kind of a freak, huh?"

Satisfied, he battled one last time and killed Sans.

 _Wait. What?_ Why did he do that? There was no need.

He felt a tug within himself that forced him to step forward.

 _'What's happening?!'_

 _'Go on frisk. Finish this little game. You're so close. You've nearly won! Don't stop now! Victory is right around the bend!'_ a voice echoed in his head. It was strange, for it was his voice, but the thoughts seemed disconnected, as if they were coming from someone else.

Only now thinking back could he recall the re-killing of Asgore and Flowey in gruesome detail, though the memory of walking down those corridors to do it was extremely fuzzy.

 _'How did I manage to make such a stupid mistake? Why did I even do it in the first place?!'_ He specifically planned _not_ to do that, but it happened anyway. Because of this, he had a sick feeling Chara had tampered with him in some way. Either that or he was just trying to peg the blame on the only other person he could to help alleviate his guilt.

"I just want to go back..." he murmured quietly to himself. "I want to go back... Please..." He began sniffling again.

"Really Frisk, this is pathetic..."

He inhaled sharply and looked up to see the demon boy had once again appeared.

"You already got a second chance…and yet here you are again." Chara shook his head with a ' _tssk tssk'_ sound.

"Chara, p-please..." Frisk spoke nervously.

"As I stated before, you have already traded your soul in exchange for your precious world to be recreated. What more could you possibly offer me that is of equal worth?"

Frisk looked up at him helplessly, unable to find words to respond.

"Hm. That's what I thought." He began to walk away. "Farewell, Frisk."

"WAIT!"

Chara stopped and turned slowly.

Frisk was on his knees looking up at him with pleading eyes. He looked so desperate. "I...I'll do anything. Please Chara, I'll do anything you want. I just want to go back. I-I'm done messing around. I just want to be with them again... Please..."

Chara raised an eyebrow and a devious smirk slowly formed on his lips. There was a short silence before he spoke. "Well then...perhaps...we can reach an agreement."

Frisk shifted suddenly and stared up at him with hopeful eyes.

"...You see, Frisk...I may have been more than a bit reserved in life to say the least, however, that does not mean I completely shied away from the touch of other human beings... It brought to me a solace of sorts, a temporary release from the resentment I felt toward that despicable world..."

Frisk blinked up at him, unsure of where he was going with this.

"...Needless to say, it's been awhile." Chara finished, glancing away.

Realization hit. _'Is he seriously suggesting...?'_ "Ch…Chara...?"

Those sharp ruby eyes locked with the other's gentle chocolate ones. "Tell me, Frisk... Are you a virgin…?" he asked slowly in an uncomfortably casual tone.

"U-um...I-" Frisk stared at him awkwardly a moment before hesitantly nodding his head.

This made Chara's smirk return; even more mischievous than before. Frisk felt his heart pounding in his chest as the other spoke.

"Alright... I will recreate your precious little world. No one shall recall the atrocities you've previously committed unto them. Everything will be just as before. I am willing to do this...in exchange for your untainted body."

Frisk blinked up at him nervously. He felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he panicked over what this psycho would do to him if he accepted.

"Do we have a deal...Frisk?" Chara asked, his usual calm tone holding a fair amount of seductiveness.

Frisk gulped as Chara's hand was outstretched towards him. "U-um...ah-I...uh..." _'What are you waiting for you selfish prick? Do it for them. You owe them that...'_ he scolded himself mentally. He looked away and hesitantly lifted his hand towards the other boy's. "Y-yeah...i-it's a d-deal..."

Chara chuckled a second.

"Excellent."


	5. Chapter 5

Entirety of Chapter 5 contains Chara/Frisk sex. Chapter 5 can be read on Archive of Our Own. Story title and username are the same as here.


	6. Chapter 6

The first thing Frisk became aware of was the smell of flowers. As he lazily shifted his body, he felt the soft pedals beneath him, cushioning him. He opened his eyes slowly, the sudden brightness from the daylight above stinging them and bringing a glare to his vision. After giving them a few moments to adjust, he sat up and looked around his surroundings.

He was back in the ruins; in the flower patch where it always began. Chara had fulfilled his end of the bargain.

He froze. _'Chara...'_

A fuzzy recollection of their encounter together played through his mind. He remembered what had happened; _how could he forget?_ The memories were cloudy though. Blurry, mixed around, and very hard to pull forward in detail. It was like trying to recall a previous night's dream, or more so nightmare in his case.

He felt a sudden dizziness and sharp pounding in his temple. He clutched his forehead and hissed softy. A moment later he realized that something was not quite right. His eyes snapped open and he looked down at himself.

He was completely naked and covered with bites, scratches, and a thick, unsightly scar across his neck from his previous endeavor.

"What…?" he spoke out loud.

He gently trailed his fingers over his wounds. Some of them were lighter than before, others had formed dark bruises around the afflicted area, and there was a lot of dried blood, mainly around his neck.

"Howdy!"

He jumped in surprise and snapped his head in the direction of the voice. Flowey was only a few feet away.

"I'm Flowey! Flowey the fl…ow…er… Eh. Heh. What…what the hell…?" He seemed to have noticed the boy's situation.

Frisk shifted uncomfortably, trying his best to cover himself with the aid of the flowers.

"Heh…well no wonder it was taking ya forever…" the flower murmured, looking away as a bead of sweat rolled off his head.

 _'Chara you son of a bitch…'_ The boy just blinked at Flowey silently, feeling a heat run to his face as he mentally cursed Chara for this.

Flowey blinked back for a few moments. "...Are…you just gonna stare at me...? Ya freak..." he muttered under his breath, glancing away. "Well, no matter." He looked back, his expression now showing that familiar toothy, evil grin. "This is weird and all, but how could anyone pass up the opportunity to take you now, at your most vulnerable moment?!"

His smile widened and a thick circle of 'friendliness pellets' formed around Frisk.

"In this world, it's kill or be killed, kid!"

They quickly started closing in.

 ** _"DIE."_**

They got closer and closer, Flowey laughing hysterically, until, right on cue, the pellets suddenly dropped and there was a small fire blast that shot the evil flower from his roots.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth."

 _'Oh God.'_ Frisk curled in on himself more and partially hid his face as Toriel entered the room.

"Ah. Do not be afraid, my child." She slowly approached him. I am Toriel. Caretaker of the ruins- ...O-oh my..."

Frisk felt his face flush as she looked over him.

"Oh, whatever happened to you, young man...?" she asked with concern, kneeling down next to him.

"I-I don't r-remember..." he mumbled embarrassedly, looking away further.

"Poor thing... Do not fret, sweet child, I will take care of you."

He heard a shuffling sound.

"Here, take this..."

Frisk looked up to see the goat woman holding out her purple overcoat. "O-oh, thank you..."

The boy took the garment gratefully and slipped it over his head. He smiled at the woman and she smiled back.

Toriel stood.

Frisk attempted to do so as well, but fell down almost instantly with a loud groan.

"Oh dear, are you alright?!" Toriel reached her soft hands around his shoulders and knelt down with him.

"Y...yeah..." Frisk replied breathlessly, clutching his lower back with a wince.

"Here, let me help you..." She reached an arm around his waist and allowed him to hang onto her shoulder. "Here we go..." She slowly stood, lifting him up.

The overcoat was so big on Frisk, it dragged on the ground slightly as they began to walk. Given their size difference it was fairly easy for Toriel to support him, though this dependence did not allow for quick movement.

"Come along now... Just take small steps... There we go. Just like that. You're doing great." she quietly encouraged him as they slowly made their way into the next room.

They eventually travelled up the stairs and down the long corridors.

"I apologize, the house is a bit of a walk from the garden..."

Frisk smiled up at her. "I-it's ok."

Though he already knew how far off it was. His body ached all over and every step he took sent a shot of raw pain to his lower area, making him really dread the walk ahead. He was thankful Toriel was such a patient, caring woman to do this for him; he never would have made it on his own.

Eventually they reached the leaf pile where Napstablook was snoozing.

 _'Ahem.'_ Toriel coughed. "Pardon us please, we must pass through." she stated politely.

"Oh... I'm sorry... I'll get out of your way... _Ohhh..._ " the ghost responded before slowly disappearing.

"Come along, dear... Just a few more rooms... When we arrive home I'll get you all healed up...and make you butterscotch pie..." she said smiling down at him, trying to hide the subtle strain in her voice under her happy tone.

After what felt like hours they finally made it to her humble home.

"Here we are..." She sounded so relieved.

She opened the door and carefully hustled Frisk inside and over toward her plush chair. "Here, my child. Please, sit. Make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back."

Frisk sighed with relief as she helped him maneuver into the soft chair. He then watched her hurry off into the kitchen. He leaned back in the chair and breathed deeply as he listened to the sounds of running water and cupboards opening and closing coming from the next room. Toriel soon returned with a glass of water and some moist rags.

"Drink this, my dear. You must be so thirsty..." She handed Frisk the glass and he gratefully drank it all down in a matter of seconds. "Oh my, you really were... Poor thing..." She briefly ran a hand through his hair as she took the glass and set it on the floor.

"Thank you, Toriel..." He smiled sweetly at her, an odd familiarity lacing his voice.

"Of course... Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot to ask your name, my child... Silly old me..."

"Frisk." he replied with another nostalgic smile.

"Frisk..." she repeated as she knelt down and started neatly folding the moist rags. "That's a lovely name..."

There was a silence as she continued to fold. When she was done she knelt closer to him, holding up a rag.

"Alright, Frisk. I'm going to have you take this off for a moment, ok?"

"Um, o-ok..." Frisk agreed quietly.

Toriel held him steady as he shimmied out of the heavy garment. As soon as he did, he clutched it in front of himself, hesitant to give it up. Toriel noticed this.

"You can place it over your lap...like this...if it will make you more comfortable..." she said slowly, lightly smoothing out the clothing over the boy's lower body.

He looked away shyly. "Thanks..."

"Here..." She gently placed the moist rag over one of the many wounds on Frisk's chest.

He gasped and blinked down in surprise as the cloth began glowing a soft violet color.

"Does that hurt, Frisk?"

 _A memory struck him, but he quickly dropped it._ "N-no, not really. Just stings a little..."

"Just try to relax, dear. I'll take care of everything..."

He breathed deeply and nuzzled into the back of the chair as Toriel went about her work. She started taking care of all the bites, bruises and scratches on his upper body first. Frisk was thankful she didn't further question how he managed to obtain such injuries.

The pain wasn't too bad on these. She carefully took them on one by one, which prolonged the procedure a bit, but kept his pain limited within a bearable level. It was all going quite well; until she touched the large scar that ran across his neck.

He hissed in pain and she quickly withdrew the cloth.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"I-it's ok."

"Just bear with me, dear. It'll be over soon..."

Frisk shut his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth as the sharp sting returned.

"You'll feel much better, trust me."

 _"Mmrh!"_ He jerked forward slightly and tightly gripped the armrests of the chair. Toriel continued despite this.

"Almost done..."

Frisk endured it for a few seconds more, sighing in relief as the cloth was withdrawn and the pain subsided.

"There we go…"

Toriel watched as the boy gathered himself again. There was a long silence. She seemed hesitant to speak.

"...A...are you…hurt anywhere else…my child...?" she asked in a soft, quiet voice.

Frisk breathed shakily and looked away unanswering, his expression one of heavy discomfort, almost shame.

 _"Oh my God..."_ Toriel held a hand to her mouth and closed her eyes tightly, letting out a brief trembling breath. She shook her head in disbelief. When she opened her eyes, they were glossy.

She stared at the floor, unable to make eye contact with the other as she blinked away the forming tears. "I'll never understand how one can live with themself after treating another with such cruelty... I...I'm so sorry, Frisk... I'm so, so sorry..." she whispered quietly, shaking her head again before meeting his gaze. "Precious child..." She sat up further and hesitantly reached her hands toward him. "I'll never let anyone hurt you again..."

Frisk felt her quivering hands lightly grip his waist.

"I promise..."

A second later her hands glowed violet and Frisk felt a force much stronger than in her previous ministrations coursing into him. It made him jolt forward with a sharp yelp; and the stinging feeling, being much heavier due to such sudden and direct application, caused his breathing to stagger greatly thereafter. He felt it everywhere on and within his lower body. He gritted his teeth and tried to hold back his pained groans best he could for Toriel's sake.

A few moments later she removed her hands and it all stopped.

"There... It's all over..." She stared at him with a solemn expression before suddenly pulling him into a tight embrace.

He was caught off guard by this for a second, but soon wrapped his arms around her as well. He felt her heartbeat against his and melted further into the hug, nuzzling his face into her shoulder like a kid. He felt so at home.

She smiled and stroked his hair lovingly. "It's alright... Everything will be alright..." she murmured softly.

They eventually separated with a deep sigh, both experiencing a sweet, emotional fulfillment they'd been missing for some time. _So much a simple hug can bring._

Toriel smiled and brushed a few stray strands of hair behind Frisk's ear. "How do you feel, dear?"

"A lot better. Thank you... Thank you so much..."

"Of course, my child. Come, try standing up." She offered her hand and Frisk took it while holding her garment in front of him with the other.

"O-oh wow." To his surprise, the brunt of the pain was gone. He still felt really sore, but standing didn't make him feel weak, and as he took a few steps, he found walking no longer caused him agonizing pain either.

Toriel withdrew her hand with a soft chuckle. "I take it the healing magic helped then?"

He responded with a simple nod, and she chuckled again.

"Come along, dear. Let's go find you some proper clothing."

"R-right."

As she turned her back, Frisk quickly slipped back into the garment, then followed Toriel down the hallway of her humble home. Though, to his surprise, she took a key from one of the drawers and unlocked the room that was always "under renovations."

 _'Never go to go in here before._ ' he thought as he eagerly followed her in.

There wasn't anything special about it. The walls and floor were completely bare, and there were several boxes scattered about the room, some open, some taped shut. There was an old cabinet of sorts in the corner, with drawers at the bottom.

"Please excuse the mess. I was going to turn this room into a study, but…" She walked in and glanced around the boxes with a solemn sigh. "It just became a storage space…for an old lady's memories…"

Frisk followed her over to the cabinet and waited as she sifted through the contents of the bottom drawer. It didn't take long for her to find what she was looking for.

"Ah. Here we are…"

His breath hitched in his throat as she presented her findings.

 _A pair of dark brown cargo shorts, and an ever too familiar green, long sleeved shirt with a single yellow stripe._

"These belonged to my son…" She looked down at the clothes with a sad smile. "He was about your age when…" She trailed off with a shaky sigh before turning her attention back to Frisk. She noticed his shocked expression. "I'm sorry, I hope you don't find it too strange…but this is all I have for now…"

"No, no, thank you. I really appreciate it." he said quickly with an awkward smile as he accepted the clothing.

Toriel seemed relieved. "It's no trouble at all, my child. Here, come, I have one more thing to show you." She led him back down the hall to the room she always presented to him. "I've always used this as a spare bedroom in the rare occasion of company, but it can be your room now if you'd like…" she offered.

"Thank you. I'd like that a lot."

This seemed to light up her mood more than any other time Frisk had accepted this offering.

"Well then, I'll leave you to get settled. Call me if you need anything, alright?"

Frisk gave a quick nod before entering the room and closing the door with a sigh. He held up the shirt, his arms shaking slightly in doing so, and winced as it brought to mind the owner of these clothes. He was hesitant to put them on, the very idea of it sent chills up his spine. He sighed again, walking over to the bed.

 _'Guess I don't have much of a choice though…'_ he thought as he slipped out of Toriel's overcoat, letting it drop to the floor.

He then pulled on the cargo shorts. He didn't mind those, for they were pretty much general men's wear; it was that signature sweater that caused his discomfort.

After perhaps another minute's hesitation he put the shirt on as well.

It fit perfectly.

 _'Damn, this feels so weird…'_

He looked over at the door. As much as he wanted to flop down and take a nap, he couldn't shake his curiosity. Slowly, he exited the room and turned the corner of the hall, stepping in front of the large mirror that hung there.

He looked exactly like him.

 _'Jesus…'_ He peered closer at himself. He found it creepy how much he resembled the little psycho in those clothes.

 _'"Looks good on you, Frisk."'_

He jumped, a quick shot of adrenaline hitting him as he heard that crystal clear voice in his head. His hands were pressed against the mirror, his breathing shaking. He felt frozen.

 _'…Chara…? Are you…there…?'_

But there was no response. No supernatural manipulation of thought. And it made Frisk feel like a mad man.

 _'…I need to lie down…'_ he thought, finally willing his body to move.

He went back to his room and closed the door quietly. With an exhausted sigh he walked over and flopped down onto his bed. After a few moments respite, he snuggled into the covers, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

 _ **[[[Flashback dream omitted to keep this postable.]]]**_

His eyes snapped open and his whole body shot forth as he emitted a terrified scream. He froze. Blinked. Glanced around with a slight air of confusion before letting out a long sigh of relief, his body relaxing slightly.

He was back in his bed. In the safety of Toriel's cozy little home. No darkness. No pain. No _Chara._

Frisk clutched his head tightly, his breath still heavily staggered, heart pounding, and body quivering from having just awakened from such a nerve wrecking experience.

He touched around and looked over his body. _No new injuries._ _'That's good.'_ That meant Chara couldn't cause any actual damage to him in his dreams, real as they may seem at the time.

Just then he heard his door open, startling him for a moment before seeing it was just Toriel.

"Frisk dear, are you alright?" she asked worriedly. "I heard you scream..."

"I'm fine." Frisk responded, pulling together a fake smile of reassurance. He glanced away, distracted. "Just had a nightmare, that's all..."

"Oh, poor thing." Toriel took a few steps into his room. There was a short silence. "Well...I was just about to surprise you with a nice slice of butterscotch pie...but since you're awake now, would you like to join me out there instead?" she asked sweetly.

Frisk smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that."

"Wonderful!" Toriel exclaimed, joyfully clapping her hands together once. "Just give me a minute to get everything ready."

She rushed out of the room, and a few seconds later Frisk could hear the clanging of pans, utensils, and other things of the like off in the direction of the kitchen.

He shook his head with a chuckle. _Poor old lady, getting so excited over pie and company._

The boy took a minute or two to gather himself. His body was still tingling with the aftermath of a heavy adrenaline rush. Taking a deep breath, he pulled himself out of bed and made his way to the living room.

Toriel had the table neatly set with two slices of pie, forks, napkins, everything they needed. Frisk smiled at her as he walked over to the table.

"Please, have a seat, dear." she said, returning the smile as she sat down. She stared at him intently for a moment as he did so, her expression flashing a strange mix of emotions. "You look nice, Frisk. The clothes seem to...fit well..."

"Oh. Thank you." he responded shyly.

They took a few moments to get situated.

He took a bite of his pie and let out a satisfied hum. "This is delicious."

Toriel giggled a moment. "Thank you, Frisk. I'm glad you like it." She paused a moment. "I love baking, so…if you're ever in the mood for pie, don't hesitate to ask!" she exclaimed cheerily.

Frisk just responded with a friendly smile and nod.

The room was quiet for a minute or two, the only sounds being that of silverware and subtle chewing.

Frisk noticed she would occasionally glance up at him as she ate her treat. It seemed sometimes she would even stare at him until he looked up, which made her quickly turn her attention back to her pie.

He kept feeling her gaze on him...

Eventually the awkward silence was broken...by something even more awkward.

A sigh, followed by a quiet, somewhat dry laugh. "You look just like Chara..." she commented softly, more to herself than him.

Frisk choked on his pie for a second. Clearing his throat, he looked over at her.

There was a sad undertone to her smile.

"My son." A slight pause. "Or, er- adopted son, that is. A human, not a goat. That's why you look like him." she clarified with an awkward chuckle.

A short silence as she looked over him again.

"He had almost the exact same haircut. He liked it long like that... "Not too long, but just long enough," he would say." She chuckled again.

Another silence.

Frisk didn't like this awkwardness, yet here was poor Toriel putting in all the conversational effort. It was his turn to just...say something. Anything. Without really thinking, he let out the first thought that crossed his mind.

"So what was he like?"

 _'"...Wow..."'_ the echoing voice was teeming with sarcasm.

Frisk tried to brush off his remark, lest he start acting even weirder than he already was. Luckily Toriel didn't seem to notice.

"Chara was a sweetheart."

 ** _'…Bull…shit'_**

 _Annoying snickering within his brain._

"He was quiet…kept to himself most of the time… But he was a dear. Always so polite. And such a companion to Asriel, my other son. The boys got along so well... They were inseparable..." She smiled down at her pie that was nearly gone.

Frisk just smiled sweetly at her.

"What about you, dear? What's your story?" she asked in attempt to change the subject.

Frisk shifted uncomfortably. "U-um…well…not much to it, I guess…"

She just stared at him patiently.

"I…I literally can't think of a thing to say…"

Toriel chuckled softly. "That's alright."

She ate her last bit of pie and looked over at Frisk's plate, which was now empty as well.

"Do you like to read, Frisk?"

Frisk shrugged. "I guess."

"I love reading. Especially after a nice meal. It's a very pleasant way to relax." She took Frisk's plate and cleared the table. "Feel free to join me if you'd like."

Frisk nodded once and stood as Toriel headed off into the kitchen. She soon returned, shooting him a brief smile as she walked to the bookshelf.

He followed her over as she picked out a book. He peeked at the title as she walked to her chair. **"Hosting:** _A Hostess' Guide to being the Perfect Host._ **"**

 _'Good God, who in the hell titled that?'_ he thought with a soft snicker.

"Hm?" Toriel cocked her head at his snickering. "Oh, the title?" She chuckled a moment herself. "Yes, I know. We monsters aren't exactly known for our naming abilities." An amused sigh. "Hell, my son's name was a mix between mine and my husband's first names. Damn fool thought it would be so cute." She shook her head with a smile.

Frisk chuckled as he started browsing the bookshelf. "Asriel's a cool name though."

Toriel just smirked, taking a seat in her chair. "If you don't know its origin, I suppose." she teased.

Frisk smiled and continued looking through the titles. Most of her books were either related to cooking or homemaking; or were some kind of scientific 'fun fact' book. There were a couple joke books, and she also had _several_ snail books from what he could see.

" **A Snail's Journey."**

" **Gooey Gooey the Snail."**

 **"How to Cook:** _Snails."_

" **Life of the Snail."**

" **Random Science:** _Snails Edition."_

" **Shells:** _The Inner and Outer Workings of the Humble Snail."_

Just to name a few.

He soon realized all her books were alphabetized and sorted by 'genre.' She was such a tidy woman.

An excessively large book on the bottom shelf caught his eye. He pulled it out.

 **"Parenting 101** \- _The ultimate guide! From infancy to adulthood, and everything in between!"_

It seemed somewhat worn, the page edges of the paperback book were ruffled and mildly askew. The entire book was slightly bent, showing it had been held open and read a substantial amount.

There were still a few bookmarks in it. Four of them. Frisk flipped through.

 _Chapter 4_ \- **The Blended Family**

 _Chapter 9_ **\- Adolescence:** _Surviving the Teenage Years_

 _Chapter 15_ \- **Adding to the Family:** _Tips for Raising an Adopted Child_

 _Chapter 23_ \- **_Divorce_**

He closed it and put it back, moving onto the next book. A thin black one.

" **Light at the End of the Tunnel** \- _Over 200 Coping Mechanisms for Dealing with Grief and Loss."_

He decided to stop and just stick with the snails. 'Gooey Gooey' to be specific.

 _'"Nice choice."'_

 _'Shut up.'_

He pulled out the book and lied himself down in front of the fireplace.

The cover of the book was about as childish as the title; depicting an overly happy cartoon snail. Why had he picked such a childish book? Well…in all honesty he wasn't much of a bookworm to begin with. He really didn't feel like getting into anything complicated. Actually, he didn't exactly feel like reading at all at the moment; he was doing it more to be polite; to humor his _wonderful hostess._

Frisk turned to the first page. …It was a picture book. The words were huge. He heard Toriel giggle and his head shot up.

"Good heavens, I remember that one." She covered her mouth as another giggle escaped her. "I used to read that to Asriel all the time…when he was…in… _kindergarten._ " She could barely contain her laughter.

Frisk buried his face in the book embarrassedly.

" _Pfft,_ I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She couldn't help but let out another snicker. "It's wrong of me to judge you for it. Read whatever you like, my dear."

Frisk sighed softly and stared at it. He _really_ didn't feel like reading it now. _At all._ But. It felt even more awkward to put it back at this point. So he read it. Reluctantly. _It was just a stupid kids' book. Why? Why did he pick this? What even?_

Upon finishing, he sighed again, closed it, and put it back on the shelf.

Toriel smirked at him. "So how was it, Frisk?"

He shot her a teasing smile. "Oh it was _excellent._ A true… _masterpiece."_ he replied sarcastically, falling on his back and looking up at her.

She laughed and raised a brow. "Well, aren't you the cheeky one?"

"Heh…" He rolled onto his stomach, resting his head in his hand. "So how's your hostess book?"

She was silent a moment. "Well…to be honest, I've already read this book cover to cover…twice before…"

"Huh?" He cocked his head. "So uh…why are you reading it again?"

"…I don't get out much, dear. I've been reading the same books for, well, a few years now…"

"Oh…"

He decided not to question her further, or let on that he already knew about the library that lied outside those basement doors.

Frisk just lied there, silently enjoying the comforting warmth of the fireplace and company of the kind old goat woman. Eventually she too closed her book and stood with a sigh.

"Well, dearie, I'm about ready to head to bed."

"Oh. Ok." He stood as well. "Hey, I was gonna ask, uh, where's your bathroom?"

"Oh. It's downstairs. It's kind of hard to see with the dim lighting, I mean, the door is the exact same color as the wall; it's such a silly layout, really. I don't know why I went to Napstablook for assistance with my interior design." she chuckled with a shake of her head.

"Heh. Well, um, you don't mind if I take a shower, do you?"

"I don't mind at all, dear. What's mine is yours."

"Thank you again."

"It's no trouble." She smiled before turning to walk off.

"Um, goodnight then. I'll see you tomorrow." he said, waving his hand awkwardly as she made her way across the room to the hall.

"Goodnight, Frisk. Sleep well."

He stood there a moment as she went to her room and closed the door. He turned his head slowly… _She completely forgot to put out the fire…_ He wondered if she forgot to do that often. It was certainly a…troublesome thought…

There was a cauldron of water right there. He took it upon himself to snuff it out before heading to the staircase.

Just as she said, there was indeed, a door down there. All the times he had gone through that basement, and he never noticed it… _'Bizarre.'_

He walked in. The bathroom was small, but well-kept like the rest of her house. He turned the shower on and disrobed, taking a good look at himself in the mirror. He still had a lot of marks, but from what he could tell, they were well healed from what they were before. He traced his fingers along the scar on his neck; the most prominent of these marks. He shuddered as a brief recollection of receiving that scar shot through his mind. He still saw that _face… That evil face was burned into his memory._

 _'God, Tori… How did someone as sweet as you manage to raise someone like him...?'_

He placed his clothes on the counter and hopped in the shower, the warm water relaxing him a bit from the sudden invasion of disturbing memories. It felt wonderful on his body, given that he was still achy from that little incident. Though, he couldn't exactly stop these thoughts… No matter how hard he tried to focus on something else, they just…kept playing through his head. There was a certain one he could not stop seeing.

Himself. Right after he died. Right when…

It was undeniable. It _happened._ And it was confusing as all hell.

He couldn't help but ponder to himself…screwed up as it may be…

 _'Did I...like it?'_

He cringed at his own question. How could he even think like that?

 _'No... No, I couldn't have...'_

He began vigorously scrubbing his hair with Tori's shampoo.

' _Hell, I know I agreed to it…'_

He did the same with his body.

 _'but the way he did it was borderline rape.'_

 _'...'_ He froze.

 _'I wonder...'_

 _'...'_ The water rinsed over him as he got lost in his hesitant ponderment.

 _'...If I asked him to stop…_

 _...to..._

 _…_ _ **really**_ _stop...'_

 _'"I would have stopped."'_

Frisk flinched as he heard the sudden voice.

 _'Chara...?'_

Amused chuckling filled his head. Then there was quiet.

 _'...'_

Frisk stepped out of the shower, dried off with a towel he found in the counter space, and quickly redressed himself before heading upstairs. He closed himself in his room and immediately collapsed onto his bed, though it took him a little while to actually fall asleep.

It eventually happened, and he was thrust into a strange little dream world. His head felt fuzzy, as it usually did in dreams, but he _was_ pleasantly aware of the fact that he was not in that black place this time. The environment vaguely resembled the ruins, though it was unnaturally incomplete, scattered with blurry spots and empty white areas.

There were flowers though. Sweet, overly dazzling little things that had a nice, idealistic detailing about them. He sat down and played with them. Picked them. Twirled them in his fingers. Tossed them into the air and watched as they disappeared into particles of nothingness, only to have more appear in their place. It was nice. Until, out of nowhere, behind him-

"Greetings."

 _"Gah!"_ Frisk stumbled forth and swiftly turned around.

Chara was standing there, chuckling.

"Um, h-hello there..." he murmured nervously.

The other just grinned.

"What are you- er- what do you want...?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Why are you here?"

Chara shrugged. "I've nowhere else to go."

"So...you didn't come to screw with me then?" he asked hesitantly.

"I suppose not."

Frisk nodded once, looking down at the ground awkwardly. A couple seconds passed like this.

Chara cocked his head. "Well now. This was much more amusing when you thought you had the place to yourself."

Frisk shifted slightly.

"If my direct presence makes you so uncomfortable, just...pretend I'm not here." he requested as he began to disappear.

"I- ...I actually want to ask you something."

"Oh?" He quickly refabricated himself, looking at Frisk expectantly.

"Why are you still here?"

"…Pardon?"

"I mean…I fulfilled my end of the bargain, you fulfilled yours. That's it, right? We're even. So why are you still sticking around?"

" _You_ awakened _me_ , Frisk."

"Not intentionally."

"Intent is irrelevant."

"You still didn't answer my question."

"…"

"Can't you just go back to...wherever you came from?"

"...No." He paused a moment. "Regardless, you already sold your soul to me, so we're permanently bonded, I'm afraid."

"What? You didn't tell me that before!"

"With your desperation would it really have made a difference?"

Another silence.

Frisk sighed softly at the ground. _He was right... He was so right..._

"So what, you're like...stuck in my head now or something?"

"Basically."

"…Why…?"

"That's none of your concern."

 _'Oh I think it is my concern!'_

Chara just sent him a warning look, as if Frisk had spoken those words aloud.

Frisk returned this with a nervous glare. _'Why would you be interested in-'_

 ** _'"Drop it."'_**

The sound of Chara's voice in his brain sent a shudder through him. His tone was so... intimidating...

Frisk looked away. "Ok, ok..." he muttered under his breath.

Chara just stood there with his arms crossed, staring at the other expectantly.

It made Frisk uncomfortable. He kept shifting in his spot, glancing back and forth between Chara and the ground. _'God, this is awkward.'_

 _'"You're only bringing it on yourself, dear boy."'_

"U-um..." he uttered softly. "This is..." he trailed off before looking back at Chara. "I...wanna know something else..."

The other cocked his head.

"Earlier. Literally, er, right before I came here..." he trailed off again. "Well, you...um..."

Chara had an inpatient look.

"...U-uh- nevermind..."

"Oh spare me the shy little act, I know exactly what you're referring to."

"Y-you do...?"

"Of course."

A short silence before Frisk spoke.

"Then...I wanna know why..."

"Be specific."

Frisk exhaled softly, composing himself a bit more. "You had me by my neck... I was completely at your disposal... So why bother making a deal with me? Why not just...take me by force and leave it at that...?" A part of him instantly regretted asking, worrying Chara might interpret his question as a suggestion.

"Take you by force? Oh come now, I'm not that cruel." he snickered. "No. No, it's much more exciting watching the cognitive dissonance. The realization that you are willingly giving yourself to me. Begging me to take you. I enjoy the mental breakdown, the questioning of your own judgement, your wondering how much lower you could possibly stoop." A short pause. "But…a deal is a deal. Had you truly demanded I cease the activity, I would have."

Frisk looked skeptical.

"Though had you done so you would have found yourself alone once more, resided to existing in that desolate nothingness for all eternity."

Frisk let out a shuddering breath. "I see…" He paused a moment, considering something. "But…I mean…you wouldn't have stayed?"

"Stayed with you? God, no." he replied with a quiet snicker.

"Well…why not though?"

Chara froze.

"I mean…at least we would have had each other. I'd think you'd appreciate the company, being alone for so long."

Frisk frowned as the other scoffed.

"I do not need company, Frisk. Such ideas of companionship have proved to be beyond disappointing in the past. Besides. In such a situation it would have been far more gratifying, and entertaining, to watch you slowly sob your way into madness. To watch you develop a manic desperation just to _see_ another person's face again…to hear another person's voice…so I could stand there, just out of sight, and silently deny you that. For me, that would've been just as delightful as ripping your virginity from your body."

Frisk had no idea how to respond to that. As much as he hated to admit it, deep down, he was thankful Chara didn't stop; especially if the alternative meant eternal damnation to that lonely abyss. He wanted to save his friends, no matter what it took. He didn't want the option of being a coward, and he had a strong feeling Chara was aware of that at the time…

"Any other questions?"

"Actually, yeah."

Chara raised a brow.

"Why exactly did you feel the need to send me back completely naked?"

"You're the one who constantly craves something different. It was an amusing change of pace." he replied with a smirk. "Your old clothes were lost back there anyway. Irretrievable, really."

A long silence passed before Frisk hesitantly met his gaze and spoke.

"...So what, there's no getting rid of you then?"

"Afraid not."

 _"...Great..."_

Frisk looked away awkwardly, the silence returning quickly as it was broken.

…

"…You don't want me here, do you?"

"Not really, no."

"Hm. Well then…I'll just leave you to your sleep."

Frisk stared at the ground, ignoring him.

"Sweet dreams, Frisk…" he cooed darkly before vanishing into the air.

And with that the exhausted boy was finally left to rest in peace.


	7. Chapter 7

Frisk later awoke to the familiar smell of pie. He was unsure of the time. Being underground there was no daylight to go by, and he didn't have a clock in his room, but he assumed he got a full night's sleep.

He stretched out his arms with a soft sigh. His head seemed clearer and his body felt well rested and more healed than the day before. He just felt better all the way around.

Slowly, he slid out of bed and took his leave into the kitchen. Toriel was right there to greet him.

"Good morning, Frisk!" She made a gesture to the dining table. "I already set out breakfast for us!"

Frisk chuckled. As expected, it was pie. It was _always_ pie.

"Thank you." He smiled and took a seat at his spot.

She nodded with a joyful _"mhm,"_ taking a seat as well.

A short silence as they dug into their breakfast.

"I was thinking today I could show you around the Ruins."

"Oh…ok."

"Well, we don't _have_ to, but…" She looked away with an amused smile. "Touring was highly recommended in that hostess book. _Tori's Tours._ "

 _"_ _Pfft."_

"I mean, I want to be the _best_ hostess, but in all seriousness, tell me dear, how are you feeling? If you're not up to it, that's perfectly fine."

"I'm doing a lot better. Honestly, I don't really mind either way. I'll do whatever you wanna do."

She smiled again. "I think it'll be fun."

There was another silence as they continued to eat their breakfast.

"…Also…" She looked back at him. "I know it's not my place to pry, but…if you ever want to talk…vent…anything…I'm here for you, Frisk."

The boy froze up. _'Well that was…out of the blue…'_

"Thanks." he responded simply.

Awkward silence filled the room again.

"I'll be fine though. Don't worry about me. Please."

"…Alright."

Another few minutes passed as they finished their pie, followed by Toriel cleaning up their mess.

"Well then. Ready to go, dear?"

"Mhm." Frisk nodded and proceeded to follow her out the door; and they began their walk back through the ruins.

"Luckily the puzzles were disabled yesterday. That would have been a nightmare." she said with a lighthearted chuckle.

"Puzzles?" Frisk tried to sound as if he hadn't been through this place a million times already.

"Yes." She giggled. "We monsters have a thing for puzzles. I…honestly don't know why. I can't speak for all, but the majority of us seem to carry a deep fascination for them."

They walked down the corridors silently for a few moments before Toriel smirked down at him.

"I actually came out here this morning and set some of them up. I'm glad you were feeling up to it."

They came to the first room with the hidden buttons. It was like working their way back from how this usually played out.

"I left these ones disabled. They aren't particularly fun, so I didn't bother. They just let down these spikes here and send you down a chute if you push the wrong button."

"…Why bother putting them there at all then? Like, no offense, but it seems like kind of a pain to set them up if you're trying to get somewhere."

"Well. Honestly, I originally put them up to keep the froggits out. You know, those black and white frog creatures you saw on the way? They kept finding their way into my house. I mean, they weren't necessarily a bother, but it's rude to just barge in uninvited. And sleep in my bed. Uninvited. And eat my pies. Uninvited."

Frisk chuckled.

"I filed the spikes down, though. I want to keep them out, yes, but I certainly don't want to hurt them. They can be mischievous little things, but they mean no harm."

A short pause before she continued.

"Heh. Froggits are colorblind, you know. And have very short memory recollection. So even if they did get the right button combination, well, they wouldn't remember it for more than an hour or two maybe. And the chances of getting all 4 in a row is…very low."

 _'"_ _Approximately a 1.2% success rate for an idiot."'_

"They also have a _very_ short attention span. Like, even if they _did_ happen to get past all that, they just…forget what they were trying to achieve to begin with. I've seen some jump over the spikes entirely. Then they forget all about it… Some can actually read and speak. Getting here is easy for them, but at least they have _manners._ " She paused briefly. "But for the most part, when it comes to getting though those puzzles, well…most of them are just too…um…"

"Stupid?"

She laughed. "More or less, yes." A short pause. "I often wonder what that's like though. To be so carefree, that is. To just…let everything roll off your shoulders like that. It's an interesting thought, isn't it?"

Frisk nodded.

They proceeded through the button rooms into the one with the six shifty flooring tiles. Halfway into the room Frisk felt strong paws shove him swiftly to his left. It was so sudden, catching him completely off guard. He stumbled onto the unstable tile and fell down into the small little room. He heard Toriel laughing in amusement and glared upward.

 _"_ _Ohhhhhh…"_

His head snapped down to see he was practically lying on Napstablook.

"Shit, sorry." he uttered, quickly scrambling off of him.

"It's ok…I'm used to it by now…" The ghost seemed to notice _who_ exactly fell on him.

"Oh, hey… You're that human from yesterday… I don't think we've met yet… Or…formally that is… _Ohh I'm sorry, I'm so awkward…"_ he trailed off, glancing away.

"Oh. Name's Frisk." He felt a pang of regret as he reintroduced himself to his former best friend.

"Hey, Frisk. I'm Napstablook. But, uh…you just can call me 'Blook' if you want... I know it's a long name…most people can't really…remember it…" he spoke shyly.

"Would you mind if I called you 'Nap?' I think it suits you."

"O-oh…sure… Whatever you want… I mean… I'm sorry, I'm not really good at…talking to people…"

Frisk smiled. "That's ok; neither am I. But it gets easier. The more you do it and stuff…"

He saw a small smile grace the quiet ghost's face. "Thanks, Frisk."

 _'"_ _What the hell kind of name is Frisk anyway? What kind of pervert names their kid 'Frisk?'"'_

He cringed internally as Chara chimed in. _'It's not a bad name.'_

 _'"_ _Seriously? You were literally named after a synonym for patting someone down."'_

 _'_ _Frisk can mean other things! It can mean…fun…lively…energetic.'_

 _'"_ _That's not what anyone thinks of when they hear that word."'_

 _'_ _Tori likes it.'_

Chara fell silent after that.

"So, Toriel was showing me around. You wanna come with?"

"Oh…sure…if you want me, that is…I wouldn't want to…impose…"

"Tsk. Don't worry about it." He sent him a reassuring smile.

"O-ok then…" Nap glanced at the chute. "After you…"

Frisk made his way into the somewhat tight space, climbing upward for a couple seconds until he was expelled out the top. Napstablook was already there.

"What-?" Frisk spoke.

"Oh…sorry…I uh…I forgot I could just…float up…but then I remembered…but you were already gone…oh…I'm sorry…I should have just followed you, I guess…" he spoke quietly, almost to himself.

Tori just smiled. "Well then, shall we?"

Frisk smirked and followed her. "After you!" he exclaimed, pushing her onto the next tile over and laughing as she tumbled into the hole.

"Oh why I oughta!"

He heard her laughter echoing from below as well and beamed at her as she emerged from the chute a few moments later.

"Ha." She chuckled, climbing out and making her way back over to him. She seemed a bit breathless, but happy nonetheless. "Hey Frisk. I found something."

He glanced over and saw what she was holding. _That faded ribbon that he always passed up._

"You know…if you wear it it'll keep you safe. It has excellent defensive properties. Monsters won't hit you as hard if you're cute." she joked with a wink.

 _'_ _Oh hell no.'_

"Do you want it?"

Frisk quickly withdrew as she reached for his hair. "Er, no thanks."

"Aw, c'mon Frisk." Tori cooed, dangling it by his head tauntingly.

…

"Give me that." he muttered, snagging it from her as she giggled and tried to tie it in his hair again. She was having a little too much fun with this.

He stared at it a second before tying it around his wrist like a bracelet. It seemed like the least girly way one could wear a red hair ribbon with a bow on it. He held up his wrist with a defiant look of sorts. "Happy?"

Toriel just chuckled in amusement.

 _'"_ _So manly."'_

Frisk ignored him.

"I think it's cute…" Nap murmured.

"Don't call it cute…" he demanded with a cringe.

 _'"_ _Do you feel empowered yet, Frisk?"'_

 _'_ _Shut up.'_

 _'"_ _Hey, 5 defense points. Quite an admirable piece of armor you got there."'_

 _'_ _Yeah, I'm sure.'_

He followed Toriel and Napstablook into the next room.

 _'_ _What even is "5 defense points?" What kind of measurement is that?'_

 _'"_ _It's beyond your comprehension."'_

 _'_ _Oh yeah, ok.'_

"Oh Frisk, look!"

Frisk snapped back into reality and looked in the direction Toriel was pointing. There was what appeared to be a family of froggits; two adults with four babies. They hopped along; the little ones following close behind.

"How precious is that?" she exclaimed with a giddy smile.

Frisk couldn't help but smile with her. It was pretty adorable.

Napstablook was silent all the while; just a quiet follower of the other two. They made their way down the next hall, Nap glancing to the left as they reached the end.

"Hey Frisk…do you want a doughnut…?" he asked hesitantly.

"Sure." Frisk answered with a kind smile. Granted he _just_ had pie, but he was craving something other than that, even if it was still in the pastry category.

"Here, Frisk. Put this in the web." Tori said, handing him 7 gold.

He did so and immediately a spider crawled down the wall with a doughnut, seemingly out of nowhere. It handed him the treat before taking the coins and making its way back into the dark, webby corner of the ceiling.

Frisk glanced back and forth between the corner and his snack. "Where _do_ these doughnuts come from anyhow?"

"Just go with it, Frisk." Tori answered.

 _'"_ _Yeah Frisk, just go with it."'_

The boy shrugged it off and bit into the doughnut, enjoying the familiar taste; something like Halloween candy he decided.

They headed back through the corridor.

Toriel glanced at the table. "Jeez. That cheese has been there forever. So long, it's practically melted into the table."

Somewhere within the walls a mouse squeaked in response.

They approached the bridge. The spikey obstruction was currently active.

"Oh dear, I told him to-" Toriel stopped mid-sentence, glaring over at the rock who was now in the far off end of the room. "What did I tell you about moving off that pad?" she yelled over at him.

"Hey lady, I budge for no one!"

"Oh for God's sake."

 _"_ _No one."_

"Just move back on the damn square."

"Oh? Oh you want me to move on the square, do you? Ok! Here! How's this?" he asked, moving onto the middle pad and pushing the other, inanimate rock off. "That good?"

"Jesus, you know that's not what we mean."

"Oh, was that the wrong pad? _My sincerest apologies."_

"We don't have time for this…"

"Oh I'm sorry, am I _inconveniencing_ you?"

 _'_ _He sounds like you.'_ Frisk thought with a snicker.

 _'"_ _Tsk. Come now, I'm not_ _ **that**_ _irritating am I?"'_

"Ohh…sorry, um…could you please move onto that one…? So we can get through…? Please…?" the ghost politely requested.

"See? This guy gets it." he said moving onto the lowest pad and in turn deactivating the spikes. "Asking nicely. That's all ya gotta do. Now was that so hard?"

Toriel rolled her eyes at him and Frisk just followed behind her snickering. Nap bid him a brief nod of thanks before following the others as well.

Tori grinned mischievously upon entering the next room. "Ha, let's see if you can pass this one…"

They looked out over the seemingly innocent floor.

"If you take a wrong step, you shall fall deep into… _the leaves of doom!"_ she exclaimed with a few dramatic gestures of her hands. "But not to worry! I'll be right behind you!"

"Ha, ok then." Frisk smirked, accepting the challenge before rushing out onto the tiles.

Tori did the same, trying to hold back her snickering as she chased him. Despite her living here for God knows how long, she somehow managed to take a slight step to her left, plummeting downward into the cushioning piles of leaves. She broke into a fit of laughter, looking around for Frisk, having expected him to have surely messed up by now. Her laughter slowly died down when he never showed up.

She climbed up the chute which brought her out on the other side and her eyes widened upon seeing Frisk standing there, smiling cockily and tapping his foot in a teasing manner.

"My goodness, Frisk! You're a natural! You made it your very first try!" she exclaimed with an enthused laugh as she climbed out of the chute. "Ha. Very impressive, young man."

Napstablook had just floated across. He was so quiet they almost forgot he was there.

They continued, passing through another room with a rock and the completely rigged floor puzzle where you _had_ to fall through to get across; or be damn good at jumping. Then onto another room with leaf piles and froggits. Most of these rooms looked the same.

Frisk glanced at the decorative candy presentation as they passed it.

Tori chuckled. "I just set those out for everyone. I really try to make this place nice. Help yourself if you'd like."

Frisk went over to the bowl.

 **Take One.**

He took two.

 _'"_ _How disgusting…"'_

 _'_ _What? This stuff is really good! And she's not looking.'_ he thought, shoving a candy in his mouth and nibbling the second so not to be found out. He then followed as they proceeded down the excessively long corridor to the spike bridge.

"I wouldn't recommend this one if you were smaller, but I think you can handle it. It's a good skill to be able to navigate dangerous territory." A brief pause. "Though…it's not exactly 'dangerous' anymore since I filed the points down to protect these guys."

The boy looked over the familiar puzzle. He already knew exactly how to solve it, and proceeded to do so, in a matter of seconds.

"Wow! Great job, Ch- Frisk- Good job, Frisk!" she called.

Frisk took a dramatic bow as she and Nap came through as well.

"You have to tell me your secret. How _are_ you so darn good at these puzzles?" she asked, giving him a nudge.

He winked. "I just have an excellent memory."

"Heh. Yes. You're a smart boy. Why, you're so puzzle savvy, I bet you could work with the Great Dr. Alphys!"

Frisk chuckled. "Maybe someday."

They continued through the ruins, making mundane small talk about the Ruins and monsters they encountered around them. Napstablook chimed in every now and again. He seemed a bit more comfortable around them. They walked and talked until eventually reaching the dark, daunting corridor that led to, what Frisk decided to call, 'Flowey's Domain.'

"Perhaps we should stop here." Toriel stated simply. "Not much else to see, that is."

"Alright."

"Did you have fun, Frisk?"

"Mhm. This was nice. Thank you." he replied, smiling happily.

"Was I a good tour guide?"

"The very best."

"Why, thank you." Tori chuckled happily a moment before speaking again. "Shall we head back, then?"

"Sure." He turned to the ghost with a smile. "I'll see ya later, Nap."

"Oh. See ya later…Frisk…"

Frisk was sure he saw another little smile before the ghost disappeared right on the spot. With that, they walked back, silent for the most part with a few more fun facts about the Ruins here and there.

Upon returning home, Frisk followed Tori into the kitchen, watching as she pulled out a pan and various utensils.

"If you're hungry I could start prepping supper. I was thinking a snail dish, perhaps?"

"Uh...if it's all the same with you, I think I'll pass...on the snails..." Frisk murmured with a hint of disgust.

"Oh? I thought humans liked snails? At least, I know some humans like snails…"

' _...'_

 _'"_ _What? It's a delicacy in some regions, you know."'_

"What would you prefer then, Frisk?"

 _'_ _Anything else.'_ He pondered for a moment. "Spaghetti?"

"Oh. I'm sorry, dear. We're all out of that."

"Hm." He stood there awkwardly a moment. "Um. Anything then. Just no snails. Or anything else… _snail related."_

"Alright then." Tori chuckled before turning her attention to setting the table. "You can take a shower while you wait. If you'd like a change of clothes, there's some more in the bottom drawer." she stated, gesturing briefly toward the storage room.

 _'_ _Oh thank God.'_

Frisk nodded before quickly walking off in that direction. Though the clothing in that bottom drawer was a joke, for he was met with 3 more copies of the same outfit he had on. He shuffled through; there was nothing else.

He checked the drawer above that and pulled out a similar sweater. Two stripes. But just holding it up he knew it'd be way too small. All the clothes in that drawer would be too small. He groaned softly, tidying up the clothes before going back to Chara's drawer.

 _'_ _So you're one of those weirdos who wears the same thing every day, huh?'_

 _'"_ _Oh you're one to talk."'_

Frisk shrugged and gathered another one of Chara's signature outfits, before heading off to the basement bathroom once more.

He stripped himself and removed the little ribbon bracelet, setting it on the counter with the new clothes. He wore it to humor her, but he was pretty sure he'd never bother with it again from this point on. Frisk glanced over himself in the mirror.

Spending the day with Tori and Napstablook had done wonders in taking his mind off things. The memories had been numbed out all day; but seeing those ever fading scars began triggering them again. So much so that he could practically feel the vice grip on his neck as he stared at his reflection. It was causing a weird shift in his mood.

He turned his attention to the shower. Though, much as he tried to focus on cleaning himself, the thoughts were still creeping into the back of his mind. All of a sudden his skin was crawling and he was overcome with a sudden wave of goosebumps. It all came on so quickly, out of nowhere. It was as if he was feeling Chara's sins stirring within him all over again. The boy hugged himself as he shivered under the warm water. He felt sick.

Thankfully Chara didn't bother him at all for the duration of his shower, but by the time he was done, dwelling on those recollections had taken a noticeable toll on his mood.

At this point being around Toriel did little to console the buzzing anxiety and in the back of his mind. He spent most of his dinner silently staring at, nibbling, and occasionally actually consuming the breaded dish she went out of her way to prepare for him.

Part of him wanted to put a little more effort into maintaining a stress free appearance for her. The other part felt too crappy to care.

"Frisk...? Sweetie, you've barely touched your food. Are you alright...?"

Frisk was silent, absentmindedly poking and prodding his food with his fork as if he hadn't even heard her.

"Do you not like it?"

He looked up slowly with a forced smile. "It's fine. Everything is fine."

Tori blinked at him nervously as he slowly stood.

"I think I just...need some time to myself. To think. And sleep." His tone was distant.

"…Alright then…" she responded simply as he headed down the hall without another word.

Frisk laid down in his bed. He stared up at the ceiling, then down at himself.

At his clothes.

 _His fucking_ _clothes_.

With a sudden growl, he quickly shambled out of his shirt, throwing it violently to the floor in an unforeseen fit of rage. He stared at it with wide, hateful eyes, breathing in heavy pants through gritted teeth.

He flopped back onto his bed and clutched his pillow to his chest, his throat letting out a long, wheezing sound followed by sob-like chokes. It was as if all the emotion he'd expected to follow his ordeal was finally hitting him; flooding forth in a sudden, crushing wave.

Quivering fists banged repeatedly into the pillow and bedding, and soon onto his own head. He scratched into his scalp, pulled his own hair; it wasn't until he finally registered the physical pain accompanying this that he let up on himself. He hugged the pillow close, body still a trembling mess.

 _'_ _Rational. I have think...about this...rationally... Rationally...'_ he repeated in his head, trying to convince himself that doing so would make all of this easier to deal with.

 _'_ _It was just an agreement._

 _Just like the first fuckin' time._

 _It wasn't rape. It was just business._

 _That's all it was... That's..._

 _What's done is done; I shouldn't be so upset over this..._

 _I'm... fairly healed... And I can walk now...and...I...'_

He let out another restrained sob. His body shook violently as he took deep breaths and attempted to gather himself again.

 ** _'_** ** _I. Am. Fine._**

 _It was just...sex...it's nothing...serious..._

 _This is not serious._

 _At all._

 _You fuckin'...'_

 _"_ _Gyh-!"_ he uttered under his breath.

 ** _'_** ** _Not serious.'_**

Though it felt the more he tried to convince himself of that, the more his mind dwelled on every little thing encompassed within it.

After a while, his physical and mental reactions to these considerations became far less erratic. He tried his best to reflect on that encounter as nothing more than a demented last resort on his part. The more he could engrain that, the less distressed he felt.

Though, that distress was slowly being replaced with a total numbness, which, he couldn't say made him feel a whole lot better either. But it was still a slight improvement from the former...

Like everyone, he had his problems. His baggage. A fairly hefty amount to bear for his age, in fact. And for that reason, sex was never a priority, or even a dominant thought in his life.

He wasn't necessarily upset in the _way_ he lost it; that in itself wasn't the end of the world. He would have hated what Chara did just as much if it were his 100th time having sex, though, having never done so before made the entire act that much more terrifying.

 _But having logically come to terms with this, and having no prior desire to preserve such sanctity, why did he still feel like shit?_

After another minute's pondering he came to the most blatant conclusion.

It was so obvious.

 _Chara was a guy._

He had originally envisioned his first time with a girl; preferably one that liked him. Hell, he hadn't even entertained the idea of sex with another male until that very day.

Though all things considered, he didn't have anything against...men.

The problem seemed to lie more the act of being dominated by one.

So cruelly.

It somehow made him feel like less of a man.

 _Less of a human._

It was all so confusing. He felt like his thoughts were running in circles, which started to bring on a headache soon after.

It'd be nice if he could just forget it all.

Chara, the sex, the murders, the genocide, _everything..._

 _'"_ _Aren't you going to bed yet?"'_

Frisk sighed in aggravation. Having him present 24/7 made forgetting anything pretty much impossible.

 _'"_ _Go on. You've been moping for nearly an hour now. Get some rest."'_

"What do you care if I get enough sleep or not?" he muttered under his breath.

 _'"_ _Hm. Really doesn't change my day any."'_

"...Then why'd you ask?"

A short pause.

 _'"_ _Just trying to make polite conversation."'_

"And that's your idea of 'polite conversation?'"

...

 _'"_ _I'm bored, Frisk."'_

"I don't care. Quit botherin' me." he said, his tone rising.

"Frisk?" He heard Toriel's voice accompanied by a knock on the door. "Who are you talking to?"

"Uh- Um- Just...talking to myself." he answered casually as he could. He heard Chara snickering.

"Oh…" Her tone sounded concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well...ok then... Goodnight, dear."

"Night."

He heard the footsteps echo down the hall as she left.

Chara chimed in not a moment later.

 _'"_ _You CAN talk to me in your head you know. I can hear your thoughts clear as day. Most of them at least. Better than everyone watching you mumble to yourself-"'_

"No offense but I don't really wanna talk to you at all. Period."

 _'"_ _Well that's not very nice."'_

Frisk laughed dryly.

Chara let out an aggravated huff before speaking again.

 _'"_ _Look. We're stuck like this whether you like it or not. If I could inhabit a more interesting host, believe me, I would in a heartbeat. But I'm stuck with you. And you're stuck with me. So get used to it."'_

"Fuck you."

...

 _'"_ _I'll be blunt, Frisk. I don't like you. You're a miserable little moron, about as bland as they come. And I have to be a backseat witness to every moment of your painfully average life 'til the moment of your death."'_

Frisk shuddered with a frown.

 _'"_ _So. If we're to make this anything close to comfortable, if I were you, I wouldn't go out of your way to piss me off."'_

 _'_ _...Screw you, Chara.'_ he thought lazily, rolling onto his side and closing his eyes.

 _'"_ _Fine. Have a nice rest."'_

...

 _'"_ _Prick."'_

By the time Frisk had awoken from his slumber, it was already the morning of the following day. He sat up with a yawn and a long stretch. His mood had definitely leveled out over the night.

…

Something was off. He licked within his mouth.

 _A subtle trace of chocolate flavor._

 _'_ _Weird…'_

He shrugged it off, climbing out of bed before walking over and picking up that shirt he'd thrown so carelessly to the ground the night before. He wasn't any keener on this now than he had been the past two days, but walking around shirtless in front of Toriel felt out of the question for some reason.

Frisk walked out to the kitchen and was greeted with a smirking Tori, hands on her hips.

"Ha. So, I see you _did_ get hungry last night." She raised a brow at him. "Sweet tooth much?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, don't ' _huh'_ me." She waved a dismissive hand at him. "You're so guilty. You ate all the chocolate in the house."

Frisk froze up. "How much was that?"

"Well, according to the number of _wrappers_ in the trash, looks like you had four candy bars."

 _"_ _Four?"_

"Four."

His mouth fell slightly agape. Honestly, he was shocked he didn't have a massive stomachache right now from such a thing.

 _'_ _I don't suppose you had anything to do with this?'_

 _'"_ _Cravings. Temptation was too much to resist."'_

There was a short pause before Toriel continued. "It's alright though. I've been meaning to go to the store for a while now. I'll pick up more while I'm out."

"Sorry about that. It was a weird night…"

"Don't worry about it. I can't blame you, I get chocolate cravings from time to time as well." Tori chuckled. "My son used to love chocolate too. He'd binge on it like crazy. It was his favorite treat… So I always made sure there was chocolate in the house." She paused, sighing softly. "Guess I still do…"

Another silence.

"Anyway. I'm going to get that shopping out of the way. Just need a few things; it shouldn't take long."

Frisk nodded once with an 'ok.'

"See you in a bit, dear."

With that she went off to the basement, and Frisk was left standing in the kitchen absentmindedly.

Complete silence filled the house for a minute or two before Frisk broke it.

"So... You can possess me, huh?"

 _'"_ _Mhm."'_

"...And I have like, no memory of it whatsoever?"

 _'"_ _Seems to be the case."'_

"...Well shit."

 _'"_ _Oh don't act so surprised. Really, take any classic tale of soul selling; possession almost always goes with the territory."'_

"...Would it be too much to ask you not to do that?"

 _'"_ _I'll do as I damn well please."'_

"Didn't really have my hopes up on that one."

Another long silence.

 _'"_ _So what do you plan to do 'til she gets back?"'_

Frisk just shrugged, walking back to his room.

 _'"_ _Perhaps read another sophisticated novel? Or mope around like a bump on a log for a couple more hours?"'_

"Maybe."

 _'"…_ _You really are a boring thing, you know that?"'_

"Yeah. I get that a lot."

Frisk sat on his bed and fell back with a long sigh. He closed his eyes and rested his arms behind his head. He felt peacefully content for a few minutes until Chara spoke again.

 _'"_ _This is painful to watch."'_

Frisk just smiled and ignored him.

An annoyed sigh was heard just as he started to doze off.

 _'"_ _Really, Frisk? Didn't get enough sleep or something?"'_

He shifted with a grunt. "Guess not. As I recall, I was _binging on chocolate_ all night." he murmured.

 _…_

Another sigh in his head, and then, blissful quiet. He never quite fell asleep, but it was a nice, comfortable pass of time nonetheless.

Eventually he heard footsteps in the house again.

 _'"_ _Oh thank God."'_

The boy sat up and stretched before heading to the living room. He looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Tori?"

After a quick search in the house, he peeked outside to see her sitting beneath that dark tree.

"Hey, Tori."

"Oh, hello Frisk! Please, come sit." She patted a spot next to her.

He walked over, noticing a pail she had next to her. There were a few snails inside.

"What are you up to?"

"Gathering snails. I'm thinking I might make something later on. And it's best to have them fresh."

He took a seat next to her.

"This is my favorite bug hunting spot. It's small, yes, but there's actually an astounding variety of species just in this area." She gestured to a small hole in the tree. "Take a look."

Frisk peeked in and jerked back immediately upon seeing the sheer number of snails hiding out in that tree, before hesitantly moving in to take a second look. It looked like a nest. Or a hive. A tightly packed colony of slimy little snails. He found it simultaneously disgusting and intriguing.

"I just sit here and wait for them to wiggle on out. Then I catch them and use them in my recipes. It's a fun hobby, and they really do make an excellent pie."

Frisk picked up a leaf holding a small snail with a bright, blue speckled shell. He looked it over a moment before allowing the tiny creature to slither onto his finger.

"Aw... It's a shame ya gotta eat these little guys. The colorful ones are kinda cute."

In that moment Tori burst out in laughter. "Oh heavens, no! Those ones are terribly poisonous!"

He flinched and quickly swatted it off his hand.

"Only if you eat them, only if you eat them, don't worry." the woman chuckled. "You have to find the ones with foliage colored shells. Your greens, browns, forest greys. Those are your edible ones." She smirked, plucking a brown one that had just emerged from the tree. "Like this little morsel right here." she cooed, holding the snail close to her mouth with a carnivorous lick of her lips.

She laughed again at Frisks wrinkled nose and grossed out expression.

"Just kidding." The snail was reluctantly placed down in the leaf pile. "For now..."

Glancing over at her bucket, she realized her 'special ingredients' were sluggishly making an escape. It left a slight pit in her stomach; she had really been looking forward to snail pie. But. She didn't want to make her guest uncomfortable. And it's not like it'd be hard to catch the little things again later.

"So you _really_ eat these things, huh?" He still couldn't fathom such a thing.

"Tsk. I'm telling you, Frisk, they're good! You never know 'til you try them." she responded with a wink.

There was a long silence.

"You like it here…don't you, Frisk…?"

Frisk looked up. "Of course I do. It's calm... Peaceful…" He paused. "But I mean, it'd be nice to see other places too."

"…Yes... Other places…" She looked away with a frown. "Frisk...I haven't been completely forward with you."

He cocked his head.

"This place…is more dangerous than you could ever believe. For a human, that is." She looked over at him with sad eyes. "You see…long ago we were forced down here by the humans. After we lost the war against them, they used everything they had to banish us and hold us in here with a magic seal. The only way out is through the barrier. It's something of a magnetic field. An incredibly strong one. It's…hard to explain."

She paused a moment.

"The only way one can cross through it is if they possess a human soul. And…seven human souls are needed to shatter it entirely. As far as we know, it's the only way. King Asgore has six souls already..." Tori looked over at him with a sympathetic expression. "You're the seventh, Frisk."

The boy just blinked at her, unsure of how he should fabricate a reaction.

"Frisk…if you leave, he _will_ kill you without a second thought. There were so many before you... I was the Queen of this place once... Asgore was my husband. It was his plan to wait it out, rather than just absorb the first soul, cross over, and take six more like so many urged him to do. But after the tragedy with Chara, he couldn't bear the thought of killing at random like that. He knew it had to be done, and he alleviated his inhibitions by 'leaving it up to fate' if you will."

She stared off into the distance.

"I actually supported him at first. The kingdom was in an uproar about losing the first soul. Science was failing us. There wasn't much we could do. So, Asgore vowed to kill the first seven humans to fall down here, no matter what. He thought, by waiting for fate to select these unfortunate beings, it was out of his jurisdiction and his conscience would be clear. Regardless, that vow was good enough for the majority of our people. Even the extremists quieted down after a while."

She paused a moment, letting out a shaky breath as she recalled those dark flashbacks. _The last words of the six fallen humans._

 _"_ _Please, sir, I mean you no harm, I was just making a documentary on this cave. Please, th-there's n-no need for violence, I-I-"_

 _..._

 _"_ _No, please don't hurt me! I just want to get back to my family! Please! Please just let me go! I have three children-"_

 _..._

 _"_ _H-Hey, I aint lookin for no trouble, y'hear? This was all a mistake, y'see? Now...j...just let me through, and I'll mosey right on outta here-"_

 _…_

 _"_ _You wanna fight? C'mon! Let's do it! C'mon-"_

 _..._

 _"_ _Please, sir, can't we just talk this over-"_

 _..._

 _"_ _Ah! D-don't hurt me! I-I didn't mean to fall here, it was an accident! Honest! I-I was playing, a-and I did a flip, and I-I lost my balance, I- P-please don't-"_

 _…_

Tori shook the thoughts from her attention and continued.

"However. After each one Asgore just became colder…more distant… It got to a point where I didn't even recognize him anymore. There was a girl. The sixth. All the other humans had been well into their adult years from what I could tell. But this one…she looked to be no more than 14 years old. An innocent child. And he didn't even let her finish her plea for mercy… It had been a long time building up to it, but that was the final straw. I couldn't stand to look at him after that. So I left; and made a life for myself as far away from that toxic system as I could."

The area was quiet once more, and the woman turned to stare at him with glossy eyes. "Tell me you'll stay here with me. Please…"

Frisk just looked toward the ground uncomfortably.

"I can't bear the thought of you meeting the same fate."

"I'm sorry…" he responded softly.

…

"…I see…"

He heard another shuddering sigh.

"…You… _are_ different from the others... You're sharp, and strong-willed… I can see it in you, Frisk. You have a familiar glow of…determination…"

He saw a slight smile grace her lips.

"Perhaps I'm underestimating you." She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "If that's what you want, I won't stop you. It wouldn't be right of me to keep you cooped up down here…"

A brief quiet fell over them again until Frisk softly spoke.

"Hey." He tilted his head so he was facing her. "I promise I'll be ok."

Tori just smiled halfheartedly with a choked chuckle. "I truly hope you can keep that promise."

Frisk glanced over at the bucket. Nearly all the snails had escaped. Tori followed his gaze.

"Well…looks like snail pie is out of the question." Frisk commented in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Maybe we could make butterscotch pie instead. Together. You can teach me." He offered with a bright smile.

She returned the smile and nodded, embracing the change of subject with open arms. "Yes. Yes, of course. I would love to."

The rest of the day was spent in the kitchen, Tori going about teaching Frisk everything she knew about baking; all her secrets; tricks of the trade. They wound up making far more than just one pie. In fact, they used up the majority of the fresh ingredients the goat woman had just purchased on a variety of pastries; ranging from pies, to small cakes, to cupcakes, even a few powdery doughnuts. She was having too much fun to even care about the over-stocking. They'd just have to have a pastry party later on. Or start their own little bake sale like those gold-hungry spiders.

But needless to say, that's what they had for dinner. The sugar rush that accompanied that put them both in a giddy and pleasant mood. They spent the rest of the evening chatting about nothing and reading by the fire, much like they had the first day.

Come nighttime, they bid each other goodnight and went their separate ways to their rooms. Toriel spent a couple minutes writing in her journal as she usually did before bed; her journal that also doubled as a clever joke-book for that mysterious fellow that visited her door from time to time with fresh knock-knock jokes. She jotted down a few cooking jokes she had thought up earlier before calling it a night.

The house was quiet, as it always was; save for the occasional pitter patter of the creatures outside and the distant croaking of restless froggits.

For a few hours, her sleep was left undisturbed.

 ** _Thump-!_**

Her body jolted instinctively, the sudden sound startling her. "Mmn…" She sat up, rubbing her eyes with a yawn.

 _'_ _Up again? He's quite the insomniac.'_

Slowly, she got out of bed and shuffled into the hall to check on her sleepless little human. Another quiet thump was heard. The sounds were coming from the storage room.

Tori cracked open the door and peeked in curiously. She was met with the sight of the boy sitting with his back to her, sifting through one of the boxes.

"Frisk…?"

The figure tensed.

"What are you doing…?"

"…Nothing. I was just going to bed."

The woman froze; her heart pounding.

 _That voice… There was no mistaking it. A mother never forgets the sound of her son's voice..._

 _"…_ _Ch…Chara…?"_ she whispered hesitantly.

His back was still turned to her. "…I apologize for waking you." The voice sounded significantly more like Frisk's, but the inflections seemed…mimicked, somehow. And the phrasing still bore a frighteningly eerie resemblance to Chara's speech pattern.

He dropped what looked like a framed picture back in the box and stood stiffly; before pivoting and walking briskly past Toriel.

 _He held his head low, but she could have sworn she caught a glint of red in his eye under the messy shadows of his hair._

"Goodnight, Toriel."

Tori was left speechless as he walked back to his room. After a few moments of staring off at the closed door she began slowly shaking her head, an action that soon escalated to a more frantic state. She blinked back the tears that were quickly coming on and covered her mouth, exhaling shakily.

 _'_ _You're losing it, Tori…'_

She made her way back to her room, but froze up again.

She just stood there. Staring at Frisk's door. In the back of her mind she knew it was impossible. Chara was dead. He'd been dead for years... _So many years…_ _But some instinctive part of her refused to let go of the twisted idea…_

Against her better judgement, the woman made her way to his door. She stood there, bogged down with hesitation; before letting out another quivering breath. Eventually, she managed to will herself to form the words, which fabricated themselves in a soft, shaky whisper.

 _"…_ _Goodnight…Chara…"_

Immediately following this she covered her mouth again and let out a choky sob; followed by a dry, distant laugh.

 _'_ _Stop it, Tori…'_

She hugged her shivering arms as she slowly shuffled back to her room.

 _'_ _Stop torturing yourself…'_


	8. Chapter 8

Toriel awoke the next morning with a renewed sense of purpose.

Pulling herself from the comfort of her bed, she stood; taking a moment to let the sluggishness of sleep fully leave her before walking over to her dresser drawers. She shuffled through the bottom one a few moments before gathering an armful of various crafting supplies. Taking these, she headed off to the kitchen and proceeded to lay out her collection on the dining room table.

A few minor preparations, and she was off to work. Cutting, stitching, threading. She made headway like a natural, letting the actions flow from her with such expert grace, as if needles and thread were but an extension of her very limbs. Her mind held a certain driven focus in this; a state that fueled a knack for precision in her craft.

She pressed on for a good portion of the morning. So absorbed in this she was; the world seemed to just melt around her, her consciousness slipping into that of pure instinctive creativity.

"Watcha doin'?"

The woman clutched her chest with a loud gasp, making an immediate turn in his direction. "Oh! Frisk! You scared me half to death there!"

"Sorry." He sent her an awkward grin before looming over her setup. "Sewing or something?"

"I'm making you some new clothes."

"Ooh." He drew a bit closer as Toriel held up a nearly complete, blue, long-sleeved shirt.

"It's cold out there in Snowdin. You'll need to bundle up." She glanced off a moment in ponderment. "But then you have another place further in, hot as the devil… The temperature changes are insane, it's impossible to settle on just one type of clothing down here. However…I feel this will fare well in all elements…"

He watched as she continued to stitch the seams together.

"I wasn't sure what colors you liked. I thought blue would be a safe bet." A short pause. "It's plain now, but I can still add something if you'd like."

A smile slowly crept onto the boy's face. "Stripes?"

"Certainly! How do you want them?"

"Two. Like this." He traced his fingers over the fabric to show the pattern's placement.

"Alright. What color?" She began sifting through a basket of disorganized cloth that sat to her side. "I have pretty much every color in fabric. If not, we can always add some dye to hue it."

"Magenta maybe? Like a light magenta?"

"Of course."

 _'"_ _ _Another chance to expand your horizons, squandered."'__

Frisk ignored him, and instead pulled a dining chair closer so he could watch. Her talent for this was clear. It intrigued him.

"How long have you been doing this?"

She smiled. "I started earlier this morning-"

"I mean like, in general." he corrected with a chuckle.

"Oh." Her smile faded. "I've done this pretty much my whole life. On and off. Picked it up again a few years ago… It's a very…comforting art."

Frisk just nodded.

"So tell me again how you want your stripes."

Together, they proceeded to finish their little project; Toriel's quick hands working under Frisk's guidance and specifications. When complete, the shirt highly resembled the one Frisk had lost.

"There we are." She held it up to him proudly. "What do you think?"

He took the article in his hands, looking over it a moment before beaming at her. "I love it. Thank you so much for doing this. I like, really… _ _really__ appreciate it…"

She gasped softly as he pulled her into a sudden hug. "…You're welcome, Frisk..." she whispered, returning his embrace.

"I'm gonna try it on right now." he said happily, pulling away and heading off to his room.

As soon as he closed the door, he ripped his current shirt off, tossing it to the floor without a care before eagerly dressing himself in the new one. The fabric was comfortable and impressively sturdy for being made from scratch.

Frisk looked down at himself, a warm feeling pumping through his heart. A total contrast to what he felt just before. He felt at home in this shirt. __His shirt.__ Made even more special to him now, having been tailored by this woman he felt so much endearment toward.

He was about to head off to the hall mirror to get a better look, but stopped short at the door.

…

His expression was completely stoic as he neatly folded the green clothing and placed it in the center of his bed. Despite his experiences and grim awareness of that fallen boy's state, to Toriel he was just that. He did it out of respect. For her.

And with that, Frisk took his leave.

Tori smiled at him as he walked back into the dining room. "Oh, you look so nice in that sweater, Frisk! It suits you well."

"Thank you." He pulled the fabric outward, taking another glance at it. "You did an amazing job with this…"

She nodded proudly with a 'hm.' "Well then. What do you say we make some breakfast? Can't travel on an empty stomach." Her tone held an underlying dismay, though she tried to mask it with an enthused smile.

The duo proceeded to cook up a nice breakfast of blueberry pie and some heated pastry leftovers from their previous baking session. Their conversations were casual and overly lighthearted; that they could disregard his impending departure, at least for a while.

The time came of course. Toriel had come to terms with it, best she could. Comfortable as she was settling in this remote little place, that was no life for a young man with his whole life ahead of him. She knew deep down it'd be wrong to keep him cooped up with her…

A slight feeling of dread washed over her as she reluctantly led him through the dank corridors of the basement until they stood before an enormous set of doors.

"…Here we are." she spoke quietly. "This is the exit." She turned to him, attempting to mask her worries with a rundown of information. "There are many dangers out there. Traps. Elements. Monsters with powerful weapons and magic. You need to be careful. And conscious of your surroundings. Keep food on hand at all times. You will need it. There are soldiers. Guards. Some as strong as the king himself. They will come after you. Relentlessly. You can __not__ afford to slip up, Frisk. __You just…cannot…"__

Frisk placed a hand on her shoulder upon hearing a subtle quivering slip into her words. "Don't worry. I'll be just fine. I promise." He sent her a reassuring smile, but her entire demeanor showed she was less than convinced.

"…Prove it."

"Huh?" His smile quickly faded.

"Prove to me that you can handle yourself."

"…You want me to fight you?"

She sent him a slightly disoriented nod. "Please. It's the only thing that will put my mind at ease…"

"Alright…" Frisk murmured, stepping forward.

"Draw a weapon." the woman ordered, the centers of her outstretched paws suddenly emitting a subtle orange glow.

 _"_ _ _Uh…"__ He picked up the nearest stick on the ground. "Ok."

"Good." Small flames began licking out of her hands. "Go now. Give it everything you have. I need to know…"

"Understood." Frisk readied himself in a fighting position.

Tori stood there a moment, locked in his gaze, before throwing an arm in the air and shooting a small blast of fire in his immediate direction. _"_ _ _Go!"__

Frisk dodged a second fireball coming his way, twisting his body around and making it a few steps closer to the woman. She backed up a bit and shot a duo series of focused blasts towards him. He proceeded to evade them with astounding accuracy.

The attacks continued; a seemingly unforgiving onslaught of deadly power. Yet, even when his reactions were slow and it looked like he'd be hit head on, they always veered a bit. At worst they merely grazed his sides; barely long enough to incite a reaction of discomfort, let alone actually burn him. __Though they certainly had the grave potential to do so.__

Knowing she was holding back, even now when proof of his abilities was more crucial to her than any time's past…it truly bared the conflict in her. He thought it best to end this as soon as possible.

In a lunge through the hot orbs of magic pummeling towards him, he swung blindly, landing a harsh strike somewhere across the upper body of his 'target.'

All the fire in their presence immediately snuffed out at the withdrawal of its master's power. At the same time, Toriel stumbled to the ground from the sudden blow. He rushed over to her as she began wheezing.

 _"_ _ _Shit! Shit! Shit!__ Are you ok?" His voice was teeming with guilt and concern as he fell to knees before her and took a delicate hold on her arms.

Her breath shuddered as she pulled her shirt down slightly and stared at her infliction. A thin line of blood began seeping through her fur where the sharp part of the stick had cut her.

Frisk felt huge a wave of regret as he watched this as well. "Shit… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have-" he stopped short upon noticing the woman staring at him with a sad, yet satisfied smile.

"Thank you..." she murmured shakily.

He just blinked at her in confusion.

Tori cupped his cheek tenderly. "You'll be just fine..."

"Will you be ok?"

She nodded with a smile and a breathy 'yes.' Slowly she stood to her feet, Frisk helping to support her weight best he could. "Heh...I'm getting too old for this kind of thing..."

He smiled halfheartedly.

Tori glanced behind her before turning and pointing at the grand doors at the end of the hall. "There...through there you will leave this place, and enter the rest of the world we monsters call home... Through ice, and rain, and unfathomable heat, you will find your way to our castle. There, Asgore will be awaiting your arrival."

A brief pause.

"Hold nothing back." She looked away a moment, tears welling up in her eyes. "He...he was such a good man. Once. But..."

She emitted a small choked sound before staring at Frisk again. Her speech was slow and critical. "Frisk. You do what you need to do to __survive.__ Even if that means backing down from your own moral code..."

The boy glanced away a moment before responding. "I understand." His eyes met hers again. "I'll be back. I swear."

Tori burst into a tearless sob, pulling him into a suffocating embrace. _"_ _ _Oh Frisk… Sweet, sweet Frisk…"__ she whispered almost inaudibly into his shoulder. A few long, shaky exhales on her part before she finally separated from him. She held his arms a few moments, just staring at him; taking in every last detail of his face, as her mind still plagued her heart with unthinkable worries…

Despite this, she managed a smile. "…I believe in you, Frisk." Placing a hand on his back, Tori walked him to the door. Wordlessly, she opened it, letting in an immediate rush of blustering snow and chilly, fresh air.

They both stood there a moment, taking it in, before Frisk took a few steps outside. He turned back and smiled at her.

"Good luck…"

"Promise you won't worry about me, ok?"

"…I will do my best."

He nodded once, reassured by her gentle smile.

"I'll see you later, Tori."

…

"Goodbye, my child…"

She watched him walk off into that frozen forest. She watched until view of him was completely obstructed by the winter fog before finally closing the door…

 _ _Mustn't let all that snow in the house…__

She stood there a minute or two in silence, her feet becoming uncomfortably wet from the cold puddles of water now littering the floor. That familiar aching loneliness returned quickly as it'd been shattered with his presence.

With a heavy heart, the woman headed back upstairs.

 _ _Knitting supplies still out.__

 _ _Two plates littered with pie crumbs.__

 _ _Bedroom door slightly ajar.__

…

 _ _Old homemade sweater.__

Toriel stared over at the folded garment, slowly approaching the bed it was centered on. She lifted it as if it were made of glass, clutching it to her breast and inhaling deeply.

It still smelled like him.

It would always smell like him...

 _ _His very essence was embedded in it.__

A sad smile crossed her lips as she gazed down, fingers tracing over green and yellow fabric with the most delicate touch. Her arms carried it like a newborn child, down the hall, to the furthest room…

There she settled it back in its drawer; and as the door was slowly closed and locked behind her, there it was left, amongst a world of bitter-sweet memories.

After having taken a final glance back, Frisk began making his way into the forest.

 _'"_ _ _About time. For a minute I thought you'd never leave."'__

...

"I didn't know she was your mom." Frisk spoke aloud.

 _'"_ _ _She is. Was. More or less, yes."'__ the other answered simply.

"I had no idea..."

 _'"_ _ _Oh? Really, couldn't read between the lines? That whole spiel about the first fallen human?"'__

"It didn't occur to me... Guess I kinda rushed through..."

 _'"_ _ _Figures."'__

...

 _'"_ _ _Their story's twisted by the way."'__

"Huh?" Frisk cocked his head questioningly.

Chara sighed softly. His tone was quiet and reflective. _'"_ _ _Nothing. Let's just say moth-...Toriel's right about this place and leave it at that."'__

"...Do you ever miss her?"

 _'"_ _ _I just spent 3 whole days watching you two eat pie and read books. I've had my fill, thanks."'__

"I mean like-"

 _'"_ _ _Pay attention."'__ Chara cut him off coldly.

 **"** ** **Human…"****

The low, exaggeratedly unnerving voice caught him off guard for a moment. He spun around to see the familiar skeleton offering his hand. He shook it, as usual, igniting the whoopee cushion sound it always did.

The skeleton broke out in a low snickering. "Heh heh. The ol' whoopee cushion in the hand trick. Always a classic."

Frisk chuckled along despite having experienced this little prank dozens of times over.

A slight pause as Sans withdrew his hand.

"Huh…you turned around before I said to… Weird. Must have heard this one before, huh?"

The boy just smiled with an awkward shrug.

The other grinned, shrugging it off as well. "Anywho, name's Sans."

"Frisk."

"Nice to meet ya, kid."

A short silence.

"So yeah, I heard ya talkin' to yourself out here in the middle of nowhere." he started.

The human cringed slightly. _'_ _ _Gotta stop doing that.'__

"I mean. Either that or you've got a ghost buddy. Or an imaginary friend. Like my bro." A moment of that signature laughter. "Heh. It was kinda funny. So I just followed you for awhile. Not much to do out here."

Another pause.

"Anyways, you're a human, right?"

Frisk nodded.

"That's hilarious." He glanced away, grin ever-present. "I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. But…y'know…" He closed his eyes with another shrug. "I don't really care about capturing anybody." He opened them again. "Now my brother, Papyrus…he's a human hunting __fanatic."__

"You don't say…"

"Heh." A mischievous smirk crossed Sans' face. "Hey. I have an idea. Go through this gate thingy." he said, waving the human toward the bridge. "Yeah, just go right through. My bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone." he commented with a snicker as he followed the human across the bridge.

Suddenly his hand shot out of his pocket to point to a strange piece of furniture near his sentry station. A lamp; tall and curved in the weirdest ways. Looked like some kind of sculptural art piece.

"Quick, behind that conveniently shaped lamp!"

To this day, Frisk had no idea what that odd light fixture was doing out in the middle of the forest; but he obliged him nonetheless, as he always did, positioning himself behind the lamp in a manner which would completely conceal him from view as Papyrus rushed onto the scene.

"Sup, bro?" Sans greeted the flustered skeleton.

"You know what's 'sup,' brother! It's been eight days and you still haven't… __Recalibrated. Your. PUZZLES!"__ His voice seemed to jump up an octave with every passing moment. "You just hang around outside your station! What are you even doing?!"

"Staring at this lamp. It's really cool. Do you wanna look?"

 _'_ _ _You're such an ass, Sans.'__ Frisk thought with a shake of his head.

 _ **"**_ _ _ ** **NO!****__ ** **I don't have**** _ _ ** **time****__ ** **for that!"**** Papyrus exclaimed, stomping repeatedly at the ground. "What if a human comes through here?! I want to be ready! I will be the one! I __****must****__ be the one!"

His demeanor quickly took on an air of narcissism as he continued to ramble. "I will capture a human! Then, I, the __Great Papyrus…__ Will get all the things I utterly deserve! __Respect… Recognition…__ I will finally be able to join the royal guard! People will ask- to be my- 'friend!' I will bathe in a shower of kisses every morning!" he exclaimed adoringly, his scarf blowing dramatically in the wind as if on cue to accentuate this scene.

"Hmm…" Sans started, staring at him blankly. He glanced off, barely able to conceal a snort of laughter as he spoke again. "Maybe this lamp will help you."

 **"** ** **SANS!**** You are not helping! You lazybones!" He was thrown into another fit as he berated the other. "All you do is sit and boondoggle! You get lazier and lazier __every day!"__

"Hey, take it easy. I've gotten a __ton__ of work done today." A brief pause. _"_ _ _A skele-__ ** _ ** _ton."_**_** he finished, winking at him.

 _ **"**_ _ _ ** **SANS!"****__

"Come on. You're smiling." he teased.

"I am and I hate it!" He let out an exasperated sigh. "Why does someone as great as me…have to do so much just to get some recognition…?"

Sans glanced away with a smirk. "Wow. Sounds like you're really working yourself… _ _down to the bone."__

 _"_ _ _Ugh!"__ Papyrus groaned. "I will attend to my puzzles… As for your work?" A small grin formed on his face. "Put a little more… _'_ _ _backbone'__ into it!"

With that, he ran off after a signature "NYEHEHEH!" followed by an extra "HEH!"

Sans turned toward the lamp. "Ok. You can come out now."

Frisk emerged from his hiding place with an amused grin.

"Heh. He's really somethin', isn't he?"

"I'll say."

"Yeah. Paps has always been the more…ambitious one, I guess." Sans closed his eyes with a slight sigh. "I don't really get it. But, whatever. It's all good." He looked back over at Frisk. "Anyway, you oughta get going. He might come back. And if he does…you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes." he finished with a wink.

Frisk chuckled a moment before beginning to walk off. "Right then. See you around, Sans."

"See ya, bud." The skeleton watched him a moment or two before cutting in again. "Actually, hey…"

The boy's head turned back to look at him.

"Hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor?"

"Uh, sure."

"I was thinking… My brother's been kind of down lately… He's never seen a human before, and seeing you might just make his day. Don't worry. He's not dangerous." He smiled. "Even if he tries to be."

Frisk returned his smile. "Sure thing."

"Thanks a million. I'll be up ahead."

With that, Sans left; ironically in the opposite direction to where he'd show up later.

Without the presence of those rowdy skeletons, the snowy forest felt desolate once again. Even his mind was now devoid of sound; be it his own thoughts, or a certain voice.

He continued. The short walk between there and his next 'event' held little excitement; a brief run-in with a snowdrake and ice cap, and that strange, momentary feeling of his memories being 'stored' while passing through being the only things worth noting at all.

Frisk then came upon the skeletons again, Papyrus telling some story about Undyne until he suddenly noticed his presence. He proceeded with an excited spectacle of feverish glances to the point of spinning, and secretive whispering to Sans until a boisterous _"_ _ _POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!"__ exploded from him.

Papyrus cleared his throat briefly before finally addressing him. "State your name, mysterious human!"

"Fr-"

"As I'm sure you already know, __I__ , am the Great Papyrus! Future famous royal guardsman of the Royal Guard!" he exclaimed with a dramatic bow. "Now then, human!" He pointed at him. "You shall not pass this area, for I, the __Great Papyrus,__ will stop you!" he announced enthusiastically, throwing a finger in the air. "I will then capture you! You will be delivered to the capital! Then… Then-!" He glanced away in a moment's pondering. "I'm not sure what's next." An immediate snap back to his prior state. "In any case-! Continue… Only if you dare! __NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"__

After he ran off in a giddy fit, Sans turned to Frisk with a grin. "Well, that went well. Seems like he's having fun. Thanks a billion, kid."

"No problem. He's kinda easy to please, huh?"

Sans shrugged. "He just tends to make things more exciting than they actually are."

A brief pause.

"Anywho…the guys around here haven't been givin' you too much trouble, right?"

Frisk shook his head. "Been managing pretty well, I'd say."

Sans nodded approvingly. "Yeah…they're harmless. Just a couple teenagers starved for attention. Though…there's some fellas up ahead who can get kinda…rambunctious." He smirked. "But don't sweat it, kid. I'll keep an eye socket out for ya." he finished with a wink before heading off after his brother.

Frisk proceeded onward. Two battle sessions of intensive petting and one talking snowman later, he came onto the scene of Papyrus berating Sans once again over absolutely nothing. He stopped mid-nag as the boy approached.

"Oh-ho! The human arrives!" He shot him a challenging look. "In order to stop you…my brother and I have created some puzzles! I think you will find this one… _ _quite shocking!"__ He swung his arm to the sunken square of snow before them. "For you see, this is the invisible… _ _electricity maze!__ When you touch the walls of this maze, this orb will administer a hearty zap! Sound like fun?! Because-! The amount of fun you will probably have, is actually rather small, I think…" he trailed off a moment. "No matter! You can go ahead now!"

As soon as he set foot on the maze, Papyrus was fried to a crisp and immediately went on another tirade, blaming Sans for the orb's 'malfunctioning.'

Papyrus then naively proceeded to hand the orb off to Frisk, his footprints practically mapping the path for him in the process. Yet, he still praised him when he solved it with ease, and eagerly invited him onto the next puzzle.

In the next area, Frisk bought a few nice creams with what little gold he'd managed to accumulate so far, then continued forth. He stared upward as he walked, taking in the tall pine trees and stalactites hanging high on the ceiling; little things he too often ignored.

…How was it so bright down here anyway? He concluded it probably had something to do with the monsters' magic. Maybe their energy exuded something… After all, they were supposedly made of love and kindness…though surely that was just an expression.

His eyes scanned the ceiling unconsciously. Part of him felt as though he was being watched.

…

 _'_ _ _You're awfully quiet.'__

 _'"_ _ _Hole."'__

 _'_ _ _What-'__ "AH-!" he yelped as his foot stepped right down into the wide, mushy golf hole.

 _'"_ _ _Dumbass."'__

Frisk shook the dirty water from his shoe with a huff. Any further desire to talk to him withered in that moment.

He was so focused on the tantalizing discomfort of his one foot, he didn't notice the next puzzle until he quite literally stepped on it.

"Human! I hope you're ready for…" Papyrus trailed off mid-sentence, staring at the smushed paper.

The boy awkwardly lifted his foot. The paper adhered itself, making the situation all the more uncomfortable as he had to peel it off, Papyrus blowing up the whole time.

"Sans, that did nothing! Sans, it's sticking to his shoe! Sans, the letters are smudging! Now the words will be even harder to find than they already are! I told you we should have done the junior jumble!" he rambled with his erratic gestures.

"Junior jumble? Seriously, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble? That's for baby bones." Sans murmured with a grin.

 _"_ _ _Un…believable."__ He pointed at Frisk. "Human! Solve this dispute! Which is harder? Junior jumble? Or __crossword…"__ A subtle glare in Sans' direction.

"Uh…" Papyrus fiddled his hands with a nervous anticipation; as if Frisk's choice on this was somehow going to validate his opinion as fact. "…Junior…jumble?" he finally answered with a slight cringe.

"HA HA! YES!" He threw his arms up victoriously. "Humans must be very intelligent, if they too find junior jumble so difficult! __Nyeh! Heh! Heh heh!"__ he giggled, running off again.

Frisk turned his head to Sans with a sympathetic smile. Though, he seemed unfazed by his younger brother's hyperactive behavior.

"Thanks for saying 'junior jumble' just to appease my brother." He glanced off. "Yesterday he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope."

The boy walked on.

His stomach rumbled as he passed that frozen spaghetti.

 _'"_ _ _Don't eat that…"'__

Frisk shook off the temptation to see if he could get that broken microwave work, and instead pulled a nice cream bar from his cargo shorts' pocket. Eating that only managed to make him even colder than he already was.

"J-G-God, who the f-fuck is dumb enough to b-buy this shit- in the middle- of f-freakin' __s-snowville-?__ " he uttered quickly, his teeth chattering from the brain freeze he was currently enduring.

 _'"_ _ _You."'__

 _'_ _ _Oh buzz off.'__

He rubbed his hands together feverishly in an attempt to warm himself up. After a minute or so he got his temperature more under control; as much as it could be in such weather. He clutched his arms across his chest as he made his way onward.

"He'd be way better off selling hot chocolate or soup or something."

 _'"_ _ _Indeed."'__

Without really thinking, he walked right to the spot of the hidden switch, flipped it, and went down through the deactivated trap like it was nothing. A few moments later he heard a not-too-far-off conversation accompanied by faint sniffing sounds. Two hooded figures soon made their way into view.

"Ah, there it is! That's the smell!" a female voice exclaimed as a white paw pointed at the 'scent' in question.

The other took a long sniff. "That smell... It makes me want to... _ _eliminate!"__

A short battle ensued; the axe-swinging dogs ultimately being subdued with a nice pet or two, and along the way, Frisk's dirtied foot was somehow mistaken for a lost puppy. __Nothing too out of the ordinary here.__

He moved forward, solving the two-square X and O puzzle with thoughtless ease.

Papyrus spun around from the other side of the now fallen wall.

"What?! How did you avoid my trap?!"

Frisk smirked. "Dude. This puzzle. It's like…really… _ _really__ easy…"

"Cocky human! Puzzles are not __supposed__ to be easy! They're made to be frustrating! And draw you in! For countless hours! Until finally, the sweet reward of a successful solution! You're ruining the fun of it!" He placed his hands on his hips with a confident grin. "Well, I bet you won't be so cocky when presented with THIS! Yes! Complicated! Confusing! I'm truly confounded by this confuzzling conundrum! I can't wait to watch you try to solve-"

The skeleton's jaw fell as the spikes deactivated.

"Impossible! How can this be?! That puzzle was designed by me, the Great Papyrus, to be of the utmost challenge to all who dare take it on!" He pointed at him. "Human! How is it that you are so gifted in the art of puzzle-solving?! I must know your secret!"

Frisk barely opened his mouth to respond before he was cut off.

 _"_ _ _Wait! Noo!__ On second thought, do not share your secrets! The Great Papyrus needs no one's methods! The Great Papyrus will… _ _MUST__ …create his own masterful methods to this puzzle madness! Yes! Enjoy your victory now, human, for very soon- __Very, very__ __soon__ , you shall be thoroughly japed. Japed by none other than, yours truly, ME! __Nyeh heh heh!"__

He began following the nutty skeleton, but not before briefly running into Sans.

"…You must be really good at puzzles, huh? I mean. It's impossible for you to have seen this one before."

Frisk could sense the air of suspicion laced in his tone. He quickly moved on to the next room.

"Yes!" Papyrus shouted as he approached. "This puzzle! This one is sure to leave you duped! Behold! The _ _impossible__ multicolor tiles puzzle! Created by the Great Dr. Alphys to be- the single most- difficult puzzle- __in all the underground!__ Each one completely random! Not even __I__ will know the solution! The rules are simple! Each color has a different function! Red tiles are impassable! You cannot walk on them! Yellow tiles are electric! They will electrocute you! Green tiles are alarm tiles! If you step on them, you will have to fight a monster! Orange tiles are orange-scented! They will make you smell delicious! Blue tiles are water tiles! Swim through if you like, but…if you smell like oranges, the piranhas will bite you! Also, if a blue tile is next to a yellow tile, the water will also zap you! Purple tiles are slippery! You will slide to the next tile! However, the slippery soap…smells like lemons! Which piranhas do not like! Purple and blue are ok! Finally, pink tiles. They don't do anything. Step on them all you like." he finished his rundown with a grin. "How was that?! Understand?! I hope so, because __here- we- go!__ "

The skeleton flipped the switch, generating a random, never-before-seen puzzle… A wall of red tiles on either side, and- … _ _a direct path of pink.__

His mouth hung open, a high-pitched, continuous gasping sound escaping him as the human walked right across. Still making that noise of disbelief, he spun out of the room.

Frisk followed, through a small forest of snow-dog sculptures, a slippery puzzle, a field of snow poffs, and another pet-battle with a giant dog, until he reached the bridge. He made it a little more than halfway before Papyrus stopped him from the other end.

"I hope you are prepared, human! For this shall be your final and most dangerous challenge yet! Behold! __The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror!"__ he proclaimed as the accompanying weaponry drew in from all directions. "When I say the word, it will fully activate! Canons will fire! Spikes will swing! Blades will slice! Each part, violently up and down! Only the tiniest chance of victory will remain! __Are you brave enough?!__ Let's find out! Continue, nameless human!"

"The kid's name's Frisk, bro."

Papyrus beamed, temporarily forgetting what he was supposed to be doing. "Ah! Frisk! What a name! A name that means, fun! Lively! Energetic! __Just like me!"__ He held a thoughtful hand to his chin, grin ever-present. "I can tell we're going to get along well, human! Or, er- Frisk!" His eyes widened suddenly. "Wait! NO! I cannot befriend a human! __I mustn't!__ I mustn't become attached! Back to- the gauntlet-! Frisk- I mean, human-!" He shook his head wildly. "NYEH! NO! Knowing your name has only made me- more attached-! Gya, this is all your fault, Sans!" he shouted before storming off into the town.

Frisk continued across the bridge.

"I don't know what my brother's gonna do now." Sans shrugged. "Seems like he might try something. I'd stay on my toes if I were you."

"Gotcha."

"I mean it. Papyrus is a lot stronger than he looks. Gotta make sure you understand his attacks before you just go throwin' yourself at him."

Frisk sent him a cocky smirk. "I think I'll manage."

"…You seem pretty confident, huh? I mean…for a guy who's got next to no experience fighting like this. No offense."

…

"That is, unless you've done this kinda thing before?" His tone was the same, though his pupils seemed to have dimmed subtly.

Frisk tensed and immediately tried to recover this. "No, no. Jeez. I just meant, like, he's such a goofball, and-"

Sans closed his eyes a moment with a laugh. When he opened them, his pupils were noticeably brighter. "Relax, I'm just joshin' ya, kid."

He snickered again, and Frisk followed along with a nervous chuckle.

"So. Yeah. He's probably waiting for you somewhere over there." He nodded off toward Snowdin. "You should probably get going. Don't wanna keep the poor goofball waiting, y'know?"

"Yeah… I'll uh, I'll see ya later then, I guess." he replied, feet moving toward the town a bit faster than he'd intended.

"…See ya."

The boy quickly made his way through the town. There wasn't much reason for it; it's not like he was being followed. Perhaps he was just eager to progress…

He approached the icy fog, finally slowing as the comfort of concealment befell him. The skeleton's high pitched voice soon rung through the mist.

"Human- …Frisk…"

A tall shadow slowly approached him.

"Allow me to tell you about some…complex feelings." he spoke slowly, a slight shift in his body. "Feelings like…the admiration for another's puzzle-solving skills… The desire to have a cool, smart person think you are cool…" A slight pause. "Tell me, Frisk…do you like… _ _spaghetti…?"__

"Yeah. I like spaghetti."

"…I see." The skeleton shrunk in on himself. "…A shame, really. For that makes hating you nearly impossible. And by further extension…makes what I'm about to do… _ _all the harder-!"__

Frisk slid out of the way just as a bone was hurled from the fog.

"Sincerest apologies, human!" he shouted as he sent a short wave of bones flying at him. "But I'm afraid this is the only way-! To reach-! __The success I am surely destined for-!"__ His voice halted each time he threw out a new attack.

Frisk dodged them fairly proficiently, as well as several waves following; much to the frustration of Papyrus.

"Human! Why are you not attacking?! Are you in lack of a weapon?! You can borrow one of mine if you'd like-!"

"I don't wanna fight you, Papyrus!" Frisk called out to him.

The dynamically flying bones immediately fell.

"…So you won't fight?"

"Nope."

"Then…I don't really know what to do." The bones sunk mysteriously into the ground. "I mustn't go back to Undyne empty handed… That would be very…un-guard-like…" he spoke, looking away.

"Dude. You could have just asked me to go with you."

The other immediately perked up with a childish grin. "Oh! What a brilliant idea!" He cleared his throat. " _ _Ahem.__ Human! Will you allow me to capture you? And deliver you- to the capital? __Pretty please?"__

"Nope."

 _"_ _ _Gyh-!__ Why you-!" A shocked scowl crossed him, which soon turned to a challenging smirk. "Well then! __Carry on, we shall!"__

The bones returned in an instant, cascading down in swift, calculated waves. Even Frisk, being skilled in his dodging, did not fail to recognize this impressive display of power.

The battle proceeded for several minutes on end, Papyrus announcing his ideas of future success amongst his usual battle yelling. The skeleton's attacks became less truculent as he gradually ran out of steam.

"Give it up, human!"

"Never!"

A couple of bones flew by.

"Are you sure?!"

"Super sure!"

Two bones missed him by several feet.

"Super-duper sure?!"

"Yeah!"

A single bone barely made it from its master's hand, falling uselessly to the ground.

"Seriously, Frisk, my arms are killing me." Papyrus muttered, leaning on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"You wanna stop?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "I mean-!" He took a few breaths. "It'd be pointless to continue-! Because-! It's clear… You can't-! Defeat me-!" he spoke triumphantly through his exhausted panting. A weak finger was pointed at Frisk. "Yeah-! I can see you shaking in your boots!" His voice recovered slightly. "Therefore, I, the Great Papyrus, elect to grant you pity!"

Frisk smiled and rolled his eyes.

" _ _Nyeh!__ Do not sass me, human! I could continue-! If I wanted to, that is-! I just…don't?"

The boy still held that expression, his arms crossed across his chest.

"What?! You should be grateful! For, if I did indeed, __wish__ to continue, you wouldn't stand snowball's chance in Hotland!"

 _"_ _ _Pfft-!"__

"Oh, just accept my mercy, human!"

"Alright."

Papyrus smiled and walked over to him. He held his hand out to him in an unusually formal manner.

As Frisk shook it, the fog of battle began to lift, finally leaving them in clear sight of each other.

The skeleton withdrew, glancing away with a regretful sigh. "Undyne's going to be so disappointed in me… How am I to join the Royal Guard…when I can't even stop someone as weak as you?"

"C'mon, I'm not that weak, am I?"

"Yes…"

He noticed the skeleton scanning him up and down; as if he could somehow sense his low health durability.

"Well. Regardless…you want in, right?" Frisk asked.

"More than anything…"

"Then you can't let one crappy battle stop you from doing that. You just gotta like, work hard. And keep at it and stuff. And don't stop 'til you get what you want…"

"…You really think I'm worthy?"

"Honestly, you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for."

"…Thank you, human…"

"No problem, friend."

 _"…_ _ _Friend?"__ He looked genuinely surprised. "Are you…? Do you mean…? Even after all my attempts to capture you…you would still consider the Great Papyrus…a… _ _friend…?"__

"Sure, why not?"

Papyrus smiled brightly, reverting back to his usual chipper self. "Well! I suppose I shouldn't be too shocked! After all, I __am__ irresistible… I mean, who __wouldn't__ want to go out of their way to befriend the Great Papyrus?!" He pointed at the other gleefully. "Human! I accept your offer of friendship! Now that our differences have been settled, we can focus on fun things! Like-! Puzzles! Pasta! And generally being very cool dudes! In fact! We can hang out right now! If you'd like to! Who am I kidding?! __Of course you'd like to!"__

He grabbed Frisk's hand.

"Come then, Frisk! Let us go to my house! And do…all the things friends do, I suppose? Nyeh heh heh!"

With that, he flew off. Frisk had to sprint to keep up, and also keep from completely losing his balance as Papyrus refused to let go of his hand.

"Papyru-!"

"Oopsie! We passed it!"

 _"_ _ _Gah!"__ he yelped as the skeleton did a complete 180, his speed not slowing a bit.

"Here we are!" he exclaimed as they finally arrived at his house. He finally let go of the other and rushed to open the door. "Welcome, human!" he exclaimed, gesturing inside. "Please, enjoy and make yourself at home!"

Frisk followed the giddy skeleton inside. Papyrus proceeded to give him a house tour; eagerly elaborating on any part of his home that Frisk showed even a minute interest in. They eventually made it upstairs.

"This is my room!" He gestured to a door covered with various 'keep out' decor; caution tape, a stop sign, and a paper that read _'_ _ _NO GIRLS ALLOWED! NO BOYS ALLOWED! NO SANS ALLOWED! ONLY PAPYRUS ALLOWED!'__ in bolded, strangely textured writing.

He saw Frisk had noticed the sign. "Er, yes! Usually none other than the Great Papyrus is allowed in here! However! Today I shall make an exception! Just for you!" He clapped his hands together. "So then! If you're done looking around, we could go in and…'hang out' like a pair of very cool friends?"

With a nod he followed him in, and Papyrus proceeded to show him around his childishly decorated room. Race car bed. Action figures. 'Fluffy Bunny' books… __How old was this guy again?__

"So, um…" the skeleton started. "If you've seen everything…do you want to start hanging out?"

"Isn't that what we're already doing?"

"Nyh-! Er-! Yes! Of course!" He threw a hand on his hip. "Here we are! Hanging out!"

"You've never done this before."

"No…" he glanced away awkwardly, perking up a moment later. "But don't worry! You can't spell 'prepared' without several letters from my name!" In that moment he pulled a book from behind his back. "I snagged an official hangout guidebook from the library! We're ready to have a great time!" He opened to somewhere in the middle and peeked in. "Let's see… 'Step two… Ask them to hang out.'"

"…What about step one?"

"Nyeh? Oh. That page is gone." He smiled embarrassedly with a wave of his hand. "Eh…I'm sure it wasn't too important."

"Yeah, otherwise someone wouldn't be so inclined to tear it out." he responded sarcastically.

"Exactly!" the other agreed with a naive grin.

 _'"…_ _ _This guy…"'__

"Anyway!" Papyrus cleared his throat, a look of determination in his expression. "Frisk! I, the Great Papyrus…will hang out with you!"

"Uh…alrighty then?"

"R-really?! Wowie!" He held his cheeks with an excited squee. "I guess that means it's time for part three!" He turned to the next page. "'Step three… Put on nice clothes to show you care!'"

Papyrus froze.

…

"Wait a second. 'Wear clothing…'" He briefly scanned Frisk up and down, his tone almost accusing. "You're wearing clothing right now! Not only that…" A brief glance away, before he snapped back. "Earlier today, you were also wearing clothing!"

 _'"_ _ _He's brain-dead, Frisk."'__

"No… Could it be?!" Papyrus held his hands to his somehow slightly reddened face. _"_ _ _You've wanted to hang out with me from the very beginning?!"__

"Yes." the human answered simply with a friendly smile.

The skeleton's eyes went wide, his body locked up and shaking; as if he had just been struck in a fight. Well…a goofier, more flustered version of that.

"NO! You planned it all! You're way better at hanging out than I am! __N-no! Your friendship power!"__ He threw his arm over his face and fell on one knee dramatically. "Nyeh-! __Nyeh heh heh!"__ He quickly rose, breaking out in a nervous sweat. "Don't think you've bested me yet! I, the Great Papyrus, have never been beaten at hanging out, and I never will!" A grin despite the rising tension. "I can easily keep up with you! You see, I, too, can wear clothing!"

"…But you're already-"

"In fact!" he cut him off. "I always wear my 'special' clothes underneath my regular clothes! Just in case someone wants to hang out!"

Papyrus ran off to his closet, bursting out but a moment later. "Behold!" He rushed back over to Frisk excitedly, wearing a ridiculous sporty get-up. Like a cheesy basketball get-up. Except the basketballs were adhered to his shoulders like fake biceps.

"Nyeh! What do you think of my __secret style?!"__

"I love it..." Frisk replied with an awkward smile.

He looked taken aback. "NO! A genuine compliment!" The skeleton could just __feel__ the friendship levels rising… "However…" he started. "You don't truly understand the __hidden power__ of this outfit! Therefore… What you just said is invalid! This hang out won't escalate any further!" He squinted at him. "Unless you find my __secret!__ But that won't happen!"

"There's something under your hat, isn't there?" Frisk smirked, pointing at the other's backward baseball cap."

 _"_ _ _Nyh-!"__ A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, his eyes shifty. "My hat…? My hat. My hat! Nyeh heh heh!" Slowly, he lifted the cap to reveal a neatly wrapped package, balanced impressively on the top of his head. "W-well then…it seems you've found my secret! It's a present…" He took it from his head and held it to the human with outstretched arms. "A present j-just for you!"

Papyrus bounced eagerly on his heels as the boy unwrapped the gift.

"'Spaghetti.' That's what you're thinking, isn't it?" Papyrus grinned, pointing a finger in the air. "Right!" His brow furrowed as he shook it right in front of the other's face. _"_ _ _But oh-so wrong!__ This ain't any plain ol' pasta!" A look of pride came over him. "This is an artisan's work! Silken spaghetti, finely aged in an oaken cask…then cooked by me, Master Chef Papyrus!" He threw both hands on his hips again. "Human! It's time to end this! Taste the spaghetti of the Great Papyrus and bask in its heavenly flavor!"

Knowing already the outcome of this dish, Frisk was hesitant; but still took a tiny bite, just to appease him. __It was terrible as ever.__ His face scrunched up reflexively.

"What a passionate expression! You must really love my cooking…and by extension, __me!"__ the skeleton declared happily. _"…_ _ _Maybe even more than I do!"__ His eyes widened as he was struck with this narcissistic realization. He let out a series of exaggerated yelps, jerking closer to the ground following each one until he was lying on his back staring at the ceiling with disbelief. The friendship levels had overwhelmed him…

There was a short silence before he spoke.

"Human. It's clear now. …You're completely obsessed with me." He made little hand motions as he spoke. "Everything you do... Everything you say… It's all been for my sake…"

Frisk just stood there, wondering if he could possibly become any more self-absorbed; and met the other's gaze as he continued his monologue more directly.

"Human. I want you to be happy, too… It's time for me to express my feelings. It's time that I told you. I, Papyrus… Hmm…" He trailed off and sat up, his demeanor losing that theatrical flair. "Well, I'm flattered you care so much." He smiled nervously. "But maybe cool it down a bit…?"

 _"_ _ _Yeah…sure…"__

Papyrus smiled. "You're a very nice person, Frisk. I'm glad we're friends." His eyes shifted. "But…I think you can reach your maximum potential…if you live more for your own sake, rather than just for mine."

"…"

"Anywho, I should probably go check on my brother. Knowing him, he's probably up to no good. As in, up to nothing at all. Which is no good." he muttered with a frown as he stood up. "It was fun hanging out with you, human! We should do it again soon!"

Frisk just nodded with a smile.

"Oh! Also, before I go…" He walked over to his dresser and began scribbling on a piece of paper. "If you ever need to reach me…here's my phone number! You can call me any time! Platonically."

"Thanks." _'_ _ _But I don't have a phone…'__

"Well then! Until next time, human!" Papyrus shouted before bolting out of the room, leaving Frisk completely alone in his house.

The boy lingered a bit, passively looking through some of Papyrus' stuff again without him loudly describing it over his shoulder.

 _'"_ _ _It's impolite to snoop through people's shit when they're not around, y'know."'__

Frisk put down the catgirl action figure he'd been examining.

 _'"_ _ _Shouldn't you be on your way to the wetlands right about now?"'__

A quiet 'nah.'

 _'"_ _ _No?"'__

 _'_ _ _I'm gonna settle here for a bit, I think.'__

 _'"…_ _ _I see."'__

 _'_ _ _Besides. I gotta buy some stuff.'__

 _'"_ _ _Hm. Carry on then."'__

With that Frisk showed himself out and made his way back into the town. He soon arrived at the shop; the only one in Snowdin, really.

"Heya, traveler." the rabbit woman greeted as he entered the little store. "What can I help you with today?"

"Heya. Um, I'm looking to get some food. And clothes."

"Sure thing. Let's see…we've got cinnamon buns-"

"I'll take five."

"Oh!" Her ears perked up. "Well, thank you! I'll get them ready." She went off to a mini bakery set-up behind the counter. "Oh, and the clothes are toward the back. It's kind of a mess. Sorry about that. We get our stock from all over the place around here. Kinda hard to categorize."

"That's ok." he replied indirectly as he began shifting through the disorganized jumble. Nothing was sorted. Just racks of random clothing; every size, color, and classification. Some were even specially fitted for certain 'monster types;' pants with tail holes, hoodies with oddly shaped pouches up top for those with protrusive ears; things of the like.

"I can't remember the last time I saw a fresh face in this town." she commented as she prepared his pastries. "Usually the same old same old 'round here." She turned, taking a closer look at her unusual customer. "Where did you come from? The capital?"

"Uh, yeah…" he lied.

"Huh. You don't look like a tourist."

"I mean, I was there for a while. I kinda move around a lot."

"Huh." she mused. "Well, welcome to our humble little town. Not a whole lot to see here, but it's…nice. Cozy. We've got a library. Grillby's, bar 'n fast food place. My sister runs an inn right next door if you're lookin' for a place to stay. Not too pricey either."

Frisk nodded along, still on the hunt for something that would fit him.

"You here by yourself?"

"Er, yeah. Sorta."

 _'"_ _ _Sorta."'__

"Sorta?" she repeated with a confused laugh.

"I'm, uh- travelling with a friend."

 _'"_ _ _Pfft."'__

"Er, partner."

 _'"_ _ _Dear God."'__

"A companion."

 _'"_ _ _Just stop."'__

"Some guy I don't really know."

 _'"_ _ _There you go."'__

The bunny woman chuckled. "I gotcha…"

Frisk continued looking, eventually spotting the thing he had in mind.

"Finally."

"Oh? Find something you like?"

"Yeah." He held up a pair of blue shorts.

"Nice. A bit warm for this weather, but for an all 'round traveler they should do just fine."

 _'_ _ _Oh yeah. And these.'__ he thought as he grabbed an average pair of black boxers; that were hanging up like any other pair of pants for some reason. Monsters didn't have the best clothing discernment from what he'd seen.

"Ready to check out, hun?"

He nodded, bringing the two articles to the counter next to his bag of cinnabuns.

"Alright…5 cinnamon buns, these two things, brings your total to…585 gold."

"Jeez." he murmured under his breath as he pulled some coins from his pocket.

"Hey, girl's gotta make a living, y'know."

With what few monsters he'd confronted, he barely had enough. He passed her the money regardless; it was all necessity.

"Thanks for your business!" She put all his items in a bag and handed it off before sending him a parting wave. "Bye now! Come again sometime, y'hear?"

He waved back at her before he exited. "I will."

"…And have some adventures for me, will ya?" she half-called as the door closed behind that mysterious traveler.

As she suggested, he headed next door to the inn.

"Hiya! Welcome to Snowed Inn! Snowdin's premier hotel!" The innkeeper was pretty much a petite, more up-beat version of her sister. "One night is only 80 gold for the single suite, 120 for deluxe!"

Frisk dug around in his pocket, scraping up everything he had left. "Um…I've only got 45."

The bunny giggled. "That's fine! Honestly, I really need the business. But don't tell anyone you got a special discount, 'kay?" she cooed playfully as she took the last of the boy's money. "Here's your room key! Enjoy your stay!"

"Thanks."

"And make sure to bundle up!" she called as he began walking up the stairs.

Frisk opened the door to first room on the left. There were only two. One could barely call this an inn, let alone a hotel.

He locked his door, tossed his bag of stuff on the bed, and soon fell down alongside it. He dug through the bags and pulled out a cinnabun. It was still toasty from the oven. He bit into it eagerly, glad to finally have something warm to eat in this chilly place; something warm that wasn't undercooked and over seasoned. He polished it off in a matter of seconds.

 _'"_ _ _Hungry?"'__

"Mhm." he emitted an answer as he chewed the pastry. He then went through the rest of the bag, taking out his pants and boxers.

 _'"_ _ _Can't believe you waited until now to get those."'__

He swallowed the last of the bun and stood up with a sigh. "…I just wanted to get out of there."

 _'"_ _ _You must be in unfathomable pain."'__

"Ha. Your pants are surprisingly comfortable, so actually, no. Sorry to disappoint you."

A silence filled the room as he pulled them off and quickly replaced them with the boxers.

"…Can you see me right now?"

 _'"_ _ _Yes."'__

 _"…_ _ _That's fuckin' weird…"__ he muttered.

He dropped Chara's shorts on the floor and dressed himself in his own. "There. That's about back to normal, I'd say." He smiled at himself in the mirror. His outfit was nearly identical to the one he'd had in the beginning. Sweater and generic blackish-brown shoes Tori had given him, and now, nice blue pants that didn't belong to her crazy son.

He glanced down at the brown cargo shorts a moment before kicking them nonchalantly under the bed.

 _'"_ _ _Rude."'__

Frisk shrugged. "I don't want 'em." he responded simply.

He lied back down.

 _'_ _ _What time is it?'__

 _'"_ _ _7:42"'__

Frisk glanced at the alarm clock on his nightstand. His answer was completely accurate.

"Hmnn…" He rolled over. "I feel like I should do something…I dunno." he murmured.

 _'"_ _ _Skeletons wear you out?"'__

"Mhm…" The boy nuzzled into the pillow. "Feels kinda lazy, but…" A subtle yawn as he pulled the blankets over his cold body. Chara made no further comments to him, and the growing heat those covers provided was too comfortable to withdraw from.

He dozed off. For a little while.

His nap was interrupted by a chorus of loud, wheezing, snorting sounds.

 _'_ _ _Oh God…'__

He glanced at the clock. It was 9:34. They must have just gotten here. __God forbid they do this all night.__

The warmth he was bundled in was too nice to give up just like that. Though, every snore seemed to pull him out of his sleepy daze and drive him further and further into a tantalized aggravation.

It continued.

Non-stop.

For another 10 minutes straight.

He pulled a pillow around his head with a frustrated groan. It did little more than drown the annoyance in fluff, and it was clear he'd kill his arms if he dared try to maintain the pressure of this position.

 _'"…_ _ _You're not seriously going to stay here all night, are you?"'__

The non-muffled voice startled him.

"Well where the hell else am I supposed to go?" he whined.

 _'"_ _ _Anywhere else."'__

Another groan as he tossed the pillow aside and reluctantly rolled out of bed. But he was right. It really __was__ unbearable. At his wit's end, he pulled his shoes on, gathered his things, and stomped downstairs.

"Hiya! Leaving already?"

He glared at her.

"O-oh, is there something wrong with the room?" she asked nervously.

He tried to compose himself for the sake of courtesy. "A little noisy." he replied curtly.

"W-well, we strive for 100% guest satisfaction. And…I don't think…you're quite 100% satisfied… So, um, here's your money back…"

She put 80 gold on the counter, seemingly forgetting about his 'discount.'

"I'm really sorry. This isn't the first time those guys have driven away my customers…" Her bunny ears drooped sadly, and Frisk couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the poor girl.

"Keep it. It's fine."

"O-oh-"

"Thanks anyway."

"Er, thank you. Have a nice-"

The door slammed.

"…day…"

Somehow, the temperature seemed to drop even lower at night. The snow also looked like it was coming down significantly heavier. This was made even worse for him, the freezing weather being such a direct contrast to where he just was. His teeth chattered uncontrollably as he forced himself to wander onward.

As he approached Grillby's, he heard a familiar nagging. He pushed himself toward it.

"-and then you get to the point where I have to come and drag you home, __as usual!"__

"S'all good, bro…" His words were heavily slurred.

 _"_ _ _No,__ it is not _'_ _ _s'all' good,__ Sans! You can't just go getting hammered every time you're trying to co-" he stopped mid-sentence as he saw Frisk approaching.

"Human! What are you doing out so late?! You'll catch a cold standing out in this cold!"

His brow furrowed at Sans' drunken chuckling. He shook his head before turning his attention back to the boy.

"Did you not have a place to sleep? If you haven't noticed, there's an inn right behind you."

"It's full. Er. Full of snoring people, that is." Frisk replied, his voice wavering with the shivering of his body.

Papyrus frowned. "As usual…" He suddenly shot him a determined grin, pointing a finger in the air. "Well fear not, human! For there is always room in the house of the Great Papyrus!"

"And Sans." the shorter skeleton added, to the clear annoyance of his brother.

"Yes, __and__ Sans. But mostly Papyrus!" He gestured to himself proudly. "After all, if it weren't for my superior household running skills, our home would be a disastrous dump!" He sent a small glare toward Sans. "Of leftovers. And stray socks. And overflowing mailboxes. And garbage gone aloof-"

"I think he gets it, bro." Sans cut in, smiling apologetically at the shivering human.

The tall skeleton blinked at Frisk a moment before perking up again. "Yes! Well! Let us proceed onward then! To the house of Papyrus! …and Sans."

Frisk followed as he lead the way through the close-knit snowy town. They walked for all of maybe 30 seconds.

"Ah, yes. Home sweet home."

"Yaaay…" Sans cheered drunkenly.

"Oh come on, you!" Papyrus huffed as he pulled him up onto the porch and unlocked the door. "Er-! Make yourself at home, Frisk! Just give me a moment to get this oaf…situated…up here…" his speech was broken into halts as he heaved the chubby skeleton upstairs.

Frisk nodded and took a seat on their sunken couch. He was just thankful to be out of the cold and away from those idiots at the Snowed Inn.

A few minutes later Papyrus returned with a long sigh. "Alright. Now that Mr. Relies-on-Papyrus-for-everything is asleep…we can have our __slumber party!"__ he announced in a sing-song voice.

Frisk blinked at him in momentary surprise. "Oh- uh…ok."

The other grinned. "I already have it all planned out!"

"…Wait, what inclined you to plan-"

"I'll get the popcorn!" He was fumbling in the kitchen before the boy could even get his question out. Eager giggles could be heard as the microwave went about popping the snack. __He could only imagine the ridiculous visual accompanying that…__

He flinched as the hyped skeleton dashed around the corner and jumped forward onto the couch, arms clutching a huge bowl of popcorn.

"Righto! Here we go!" He grabbed the remote halfway jammed into the cushion and turned on the TV.

 _"_ _ _Welcome to Mettaton's Late Night Game Show!"__ On a gigantic stage, the square robot did a dramatic twirl in front of a wild display of flashing lights. _"_ _ _Five contestants! Competing for one grand mystery prize! Challenges unlike anything you've ever seen! With a side order of scandals! Romance! And another amazing performance by, yours truly~! I hope you're ready darling, because this is sure to be a show you'll never forget~!"__

"Wowie! Mettaton sure is cool, huh?!" Papyrus exclaimed with a childish bounce in his motions.

"Mhm…"

The skeleton was so entranced by this show, or more so, his greatest idol, he didn't even notice the human was dozing off on him.

Frisk was caught in a twilight sleep for a while. Slowly, he slipped deeper and deeper until he was present in a strangely fabricated dream world.

He was leaning against a wall next to an alley of some sort. A huge theater stood a little ways off. Giant stereo systems blared loud announcements and upbeat music. A sea of cheering figures flooded the expanse of the place before him. Somehow through this blurry commotion, he was aware it had something to do with Mettaton.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a sudden glimpse of green. The boy turned his head slightly; his body tensed as his assumption was confirmed. __Hearing his voice was one thing, but seeing him in person still brought on a heavy wave of nerves.__

"Oh. Hey..." He sent a subtle wave, unable to make full eye contact with him.

Chara's tone was soft as he approached. "Greetings." He leaned against the wall next to the other; close, but not too close.

"Why do you always say 'greetings'?" Frisk asked halfheartedly.

Chara shrugged. "It's just how I say hello."

...

"Should I even bother asking why you showed up here again?"

"No."

A simple reply; followed by aching silence.

Frisk watched the fuzzy spectacle off in the distance. Giant screens showed Mettaton doing some kind of elaborate dance. Or at least, that's what his subconscious perceived, though the direct visual didn't quite match in its detail.

"Weird dream, huh?"

"Mm." Chara nodded once. "…You know you can change it anytime you want."

"Heh. I have no idea how to do that."

"You have to focus."

"I'm asleep. Any focusing I do now isn't 'real' focusing if ya know what I mean."

The other shrugged. "I used to be able to do it."

"Well, you were probably a weirdo."

Chara scoffed. "Not entirely inaccurate..." he muttered. "Still. You're lucid enough. You could bend this whole atmosphere if you weren't such a lazy pansy-"

In that moment, their entire world shook and rippled, the sounds distorting even further before everything snapped back to its prior state.

"...Impressive."

"I didn't do that." Frisk returned, blinking at the distant scape with bewilderment.

"You did. Your emotions. They can alter this verse just as strongly as your will." He smirked. "In the end, however...I hold the deciding power in shaping this unconscious world of yours..."

Frisk glanced over at him with both a nervous and challenging expression. He was met with an unsettling grin.

 _"_ _ _Care to see?"__

The boy quickly shook his head 'no.'

A low snicker. "Suit yourself."

Another long silence; both simply standing and observing the strange happenings before them.

"So what do you think of him?"

"Who?"

"Mettaton."

Chara frowned, crossing his arms as he stared off at the giant screens depicting the robot in question. "He's an attention whore, that's what I think. A drama queen with way too much time on his hands."

Frisk chuckled. "He's funny though."

"Define 'funny.'"

Frisk rolled his eyes. "Entertaining, then."

"Mildly amusing at best."

They quieted once more for what seemed like a minute or two before Frisk finally broke the silence.

…

"...Chara?"

Crimson eyes met his nervous stare.

"What's gonna happen now? When we get to the surface?"

"...What are you talking about?"

"You." He glanced between him and the ground. "Obviously things will be different with you around."

"Obviously."

Frisk stared at the ground, letting out a long exhale before hesitantly looking back up. "...Are you gonna let me live a normal life?"

"…Elaborate."

"Like…I dunno. Don't fuck around with my head. Dreams. Actions. Everything. Whatever. Leave me alone, basically. So I can go on like before." A slight pause. "I'm at least entitled to that, don't you think?"

He waited a few moments, but the other remained silent.

"...Chara?"

Still no reply. __He wouldn't even look at him.__

Frisk threw a fist backwards, punching the wall aggressively. "I fuckin' knew it."

"Then why ask at all?"

"Because I was __hoping__ for a decent answer!"

"Well that's not exactly a promise I can realistically make, assuming I'd even be willing to in the first place."

 _"'_ _ _You're such a selfish prick!"__

"Calm down."

"Calm down?!" How the hell can you expect me to-?!"

"It's your own fault you're here." he cut him off with a glare.

Frisk just broke into a strange fit of laughter. The scenery wavered a bit.

"Your life will never be normal again. You need to accept that."

The condescension accompanying that statement sent him over. With an explosive yell, Frisk made an abrupt lunge toward him; though his attempted attack was easily evaded by a disappearing Chara. There was a sudden snag on his shoulder from behind.

 _"_ _ _Don't fucking touch me!"__ he hollered, twisting out of his grip.

"Says the guy who just tried to pummel me."

 _"_ _ _The last thing…I want to feel…are your disgusting, dead hands on my flesh."__ he muttered; his slow, hateful tone matching the piercing gaze that accompanied it.

"Oh look, another mood swing."

 **"** ** **Shut up!"**** Frisk took another aggravated swing at him.

Chara made a quick grab for his wrists, which was immediately deflected by the other.

 _"_ _ _Get off-!"__

Chara once again took a violent hold on the other's shoulder, his face taking on that demonic form in an instant. _**"**_ _ _ ** **I'll touch you if I damn well want to, you fucking dog."****__

Frisk's body jolted up reflexively, his voice emitting a brief yelp.

"Shit! Don't do that!" he demanded in a slight haze of confusion. He looked over to see Papyrus staring at him in puzzlement; his gloved finger pointed at him as if it was about ready to poke him. It immediately shot up in the air instead.

"Impressive, human! I didn't even touch you, but still you could sense of my intent to poke!" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Either that or perhaps you're just a very skittish human…?" He smiled brightly with a shake of his head. "No. The first option's way cooler. Anywho, you're missing the best part!" he exclaimed, grabbing the boy's shoulder and pointing to the TV. "Well…I mean…technically I haven't seen this episode yet, but when it comes to Mettaton, __every__ part is the best part!"

Frisk sat tensely, staring blankly at the television and giving the most minimal responses when Papyrus acknowledged him about anything. It wasn't until the show actually ended that he seemed to notice the other's off demeanor.

"Nyeh… Still tired, human?"

A slow nod mixed with a very subtle mumble.

"Yes…hanging out so much in one day can really wear one down to the bone." He froze. _"_ _ _Nyeh! Anyway…"__ He clicked the TV off and stood. "I'll leave you to your slumber if that is what you wish."

"Ok…"

"Ok then… Er, in that case I bid you, a very good night! Good night, human!" With that he rushed upstairs, creating more noise than necessary as he got ready for bed.

Frisk was left alone in the dark, slumped further into the couch with Papyrus gone. Granted it was comfortable. He lied down.

His eyes refused to close.

He just wanted to sleep.

Just…normal…fucking…sleep.

But his heart pumped anxiety through his veins at the very thought of drifting off.

Needless to say, it took a while…

The house was quiet for several hours.

Sometime in the middle of the night, or obscenely early morning, the stairs creaked under a pair of worn, fuzzy, slippers. The short skeleton rubbed his temple with a soft groan. He flinched a moment upon seeing a figure nestled on his sofa, before recalling the blurry events from earlier.

"Oh yeah…" he murmured, wandering past the sleeping human and into the kitchen.

He fixed himself a few arbitrary snacks; whatever happened to be within immediate reach in the fridge. He then pulled a bottle of ketchup from a bottom cupboard and proceeded to guzzle the whole thing. Somehow this made him feel better; on several levels.

He turned the light out and walked back, smiling at over at Frisk a moment before starting up the stairs.

 _"_ _ _Sleep well, Sans."__

He stopped in his tracks upon hearing that eerie, taunting voice. __It held a familiarity that struck him to his core.__ Slowly, he turned around.

Frisk was still sound asleep, his position completely unchanged.

…

"Goodnight, kid..." he returned cautiously before heading back to bed.

However, that unnerving experience would proceed to haunt his mind well into the night thereafter…


	9. Chapter 9

"HUMAN! Awaken at once!"

Frisk mumbled grumpily as he was suddenly stirred from his sleep by Papyrus' piercing voice.

"Wakey wakey!"

"Huh- wha-?!" he swatted away the gloved hand as it poked his cheek.

It was then that he noticed the towering stack of pancakes Papyrus was balancing in his other hand.

"Lookie what I made!"

Frisk had barely woken up as the pancakes were shoved in his face, only but a moment, before the skeleton pivoted and made off to the kitchen.

"Come, come, human! You must eat a hearty breakfast if you're to trek all the way to the Capital!" he called from the other room.

"Mmn…" He sat up, and with a long yawn, lazily pulled his stiff body from the warmth of the sofa and followed the other's lead.

As soon as he entered, Papyrus jumped in delight.

"Yes, sit, sit, human! I made up this special spot just for you!"

The table was set and everything; neat and specific, yet still completely over the top.

"Wow, uh…thanks." he replied, blinking up in awe at the enormous plate of pancakes he had served for him.

There was another stack equally as impressive at the other end of the table. It would have been beyond excessive with just one. He had made two.

 _'_ _How much batter did he need for this? He must have been at it all morning. It could feed a family of 12. Who_ _ **does**_ _this?'_

Frisk glanced around for a certain food-loving skeleton, though he was nowhere to be seen. He turned to Papyrus with a look of confusion.

"Hey, where's Sans?"

The skeleton frowned slightly. "Sans is not here now. He's out. Working, hopefully…"

"Ah."

Papyrus seemed to brush it off immediately. "Anyway! What do you think?!" he asked with an excited giggle.

Frisk pulled a piece off with his fork and tasted it. _...The flavor really was...something else..._

"Wowie! That's the same face you made when you sampled my world famous spaghetti! Which means..." A huge bright-eyed smile. "It must be positively _DELICIOUS!"_

"Mnn..." Frisk's face scrunched as he swallowed the food. "I-"

Papyrus pressed a finger to his lips, shushing him.

"No, no! You mustn't! The flattery! It is too much already! I'm not sure how many compliments my fragile soul can take!" he exclaimed dramatically, clutching his other hand to his heart.

He opened an eye, noticing Frisk's odd expression.

He moved his hand from the other's face. "Well... Perhaps _one_ more compliment won't send me too far into a state of beflustered flusterment." An eager grin spread across his face as he stared at the other expectantly.

Frisk shifted uncomfortably, staring down at the food as he tried to respond. "...Its... _out of this world?"_

"WOWIE! What a cool thing to say about my cooking!" he squeed, holding his hands to his cheeks.

A moment later he froze.

"...Nyeh...heh heh... Well then!" A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. "If it's as delightful as you say..." A bold gesture toward the pancakes. "Do partake to your heart's content!"

Frisk smiled awkwardly. "Th-thanks, but...yeah, uh...I think my heart is pretty content..."

"Nyeh?!"

His eyes shot wide open as he assessed the sheer amount of pancake left on the other's plate. The boy had only taken but a nibble.

"...Wowie...I guess humans don't really eat much after all..." He shrugged. "Oh well! More for me!" He stuck one with a fork and consumed the whole pancake in one bite. "And yes! You should be on your way to Waterfall, Frisk! You know how to get there, right?"

"Y-"

"Remember where we were yesterday? Where we had our super cool battle? Yes, just go through that misty stuff for a bit and you'll be there in no time!" he finished with an innocent grin.

"Alrighty then. I'll see you later Papyrus." Frisk spoke with a gentle smile.

His hand waved frantically as Frisk left to the front door. "Farewell, human!"

Frisk trekked through the snowy mist and into the entrance of the cave, where he saw Papyrus' brother behind another booth of sorts, slacking off again.

He approached Sans, who was reclined on a less-than-comfortable looking stool.

The skeleton peeked open an eye to look at him. "What? Haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?" His groggy voice had an edge to it.

"…You ok, buddy?"

"Yeah…" He sat up with a yawn. "Didn't uh…didn't get much sleep last night s'all."

Sans stood and walked out from behind the stand. He looked like he had just gotten up. Well, even more so than he usually did.

"So yeah." he started, stretching his arms. "I'm uh…I'm goin' to Grillby's. Need a break from all this work…" His eyes met Frisk's. "Wanna come with?"

"Sure."

A slight smile. "Well, if you insist…" He circled the boy and motioned for him to come. "Over here. I know a shortcut."

Sans led him but a few steps before taking the human's wrist and blinking through a black shroud. Before the other even knew what happened, they were standing in the center of the restaurant.

"Fast shortcut, huh?"

Without waiting long for a response, he turned and began greeting the other patrons as they made their way to the bar.

"Here, get comfy."

…

No whoopee cushion this time.

Sans seemed to take note of Frisk's subtle confusion.

"…Somethin' wrong, kid?"

"Huh-? No. No, it's nothing."

He stared at him a few seconds more before speaking again. "…Ok then. Let's order." The hardness in his tone seemed to fade at the prospect of food. "So, whaddaya want?"

Frisk pondered a moment. "Fries?"

"Hm, that sounds pretty good." He turned to the bartender. "Hey Grillby, we'll have a double order of fries."

Wordlessly, the blazing man went off to the backroom to prepare their meals.

Unlike prior times, Sans was completely quiet. He just sat there, seemingly unbothered by the lack of conversation between them. It was so unlike him.

Frisk stared at the backlit bottles lined up on the shelves before him and frowned.

 _'_ _What did you do?'_

 _'"_ _Hm? Are you talking to me?"'_

 _'_ _Who the fuck else would I be- C'mon, I'm not_ _ **that**_ _stupid. Why is he acting like this?'_

 _'"_ _I have no idea what you're talking about."'_

He could feel deception pouring out of his every word.

 _'_ _Oh, of course not-'_

Frisk snapped out of it as Grillby set two plates of fries in front of them.

 _'_ _...Fine.'_

"Ketchup?"

He looked to see Sans offering him the bottle.

"That's ok, thanks."

"Suit yourself."

He guzzled the whole thing in 6 seconds. Grillby was watching him silently. Frisk could only imagine the irritation hidden behind that stoic expression.

They spent about 5 minutes in silence to each other, just casually grazing on their meals. It wasn't until they were practically gone that the skeleton finally turned to him, almost in an abrupt way.

"Hey…I actually wanted to ask you somethin'…"

Frisk's body locked up a little under his stare. The room almost seemed to dim around them.

"…Have you ever heard of a talking flower?"

"Um…" He shook his head slightly.

Sans closed his eyes a moment. "Echo flowers. They're all over the marsh. Say somethin' to them, and they'll repeat it over and over…"

"Yeah?" His tone pressed him to elaborate.

"Well. Papyrus told me something interesting the other day." He leaned his head into his hand thoughtfully. "Sometimes, when no one else is around…a flower appears and whispers things to him. Flattery… Advice… Encouragement…" He took on a sudden grave expression. "…Predictions." He turned his head toward Frisk, eyes nonchalantly observing his expression and demeanor. "Weird, huh?"

The boy responded with a simple, reserved, "Yeah."

…

"No idea what I'm talkin' about, huh?"

Frisk just shrugged with an awkward smile.

"Sorry for buggin' ya, then. Thought you might've...I dunno."

"…Why?"

"…Just a hunch."

A short silence before Frisk spoke.

"It's probably nothing."

"Yeah. Someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him. Or something…" He patted Frisk's shoulder for a brief moment. "Do me a favor and keep an eye out, ok kid?" A smile as if he already agreed. "Thanks."

"…No problem."

The atmosphere, though exactly the same, suddenly felt much less private. Lights seemed brighter, sound was louder, movement of other people was once again detectable from his peripheral.

Sans spun around in his bar chair and stretched.

"Welp, that was a long break." A mischievous smile. I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long." He chuckled softly. "Oh, by the way…I'm flat broke. Can you foot the bill? It's just 10,000."

"Oh yeah, let me get right on that."

"Pssh. Just kidding, buddy." He grinned and called out to the bartender. "Grillby, put it on my tab."

The man nodded once in his direction before going back to wiping down glasses like a little perfectionist.

Sans walked toward the door, but stopped just short of exiting.

"By the way…" He turned toward Frisk, who had followed him despite having not finished his fries. He froze a bit, a subtle uncertainty washing over his face a moment. "…I was going to say something, but I forgot." He shot him a goofy smile, playing it off as nothing more than a lazy man's forgetfulness.

He made his way out the door.

"Welp. Gotta get back to work. Be seein' ya, kid." He offered a brief wave before heading out.

The door closed.

Frisk pulled it open not a second later to follow, but the skeleton was nowhere to be seen.

He retraced the path to where he was prior. Sans wasn't at his stand. The place was empty besides a few loitering monsters.

A little armless yellow one, about the underground's parallel to a ten-year-old fanboy, was rambling to another monster about a certain heroine Frisk was soon to 'meet' for the first time.

Frisk made his way through the cavern, across a bridge stricken by precarious falling rocks; one of which had hit him over the shoulder and briefly knocked him down into the shallow, chilly water.

He knelt down in the grass upon hearing the footsteps, the guard appearing right on cue. Papyrus soon to rush in as well. His failed mission report, followed by an attempt at convincing the woman of peace over bloodshed. Of course, she would hear none of it.

This unfolding drama was no longer a surprise to him. What was once an ominous presence that made his heart pump with adrenaline no longer registered as a threat in his mind. For he knew exactly when and where she would jump out at him, and more importantly, how this would ultimately play out.

She faced the brush with her spear, scanning, eventually dropping her suspicions and disappearing into the dark. He crawled out a couple seconds after she left.

His little yellow shadow followed him.

The boy scrambled about excitedly as he spoke. "Yo! Did you see the way she was staring at you? That…was _awesome!_ I'm sooo jealous! What'd you do to get her attention? Ha ha!" The monster began rushing onward. "C'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" he exclaimed with a childish grin.

"Hey kid, don't go so-"

The little guy tripped and fell flat on his face.

"…fast."

"I'm ok, I'm ok!" he responded quickly, folding his head into his torso and somehow using that force to bounce himself back upright, instantly; like a living cartoon.

Frisk sighed, shaking his head with a slight smile as he ran off in search of his hero. His vigor and enthusiasm was…refreshing. In an annoying sort of way. Just like another monster he knew.

He walked onward, to an extraordinarily simple bridge puzzle. He could have just walked through, like the kid probably did. But he wasn't really interested in getting any wetter than need be. So he began solving it. Giant squeaking flower by agonizing flower.

…

 _'_ _...He's awfully quiet...'_

Strangely, this indirect provocation didn't stir any acknowledgement from the other party. Which, really, wasn't a bad thing at all. He appreciated the quiet.

He continued to the docks, riding over to the other side, where a certain warrior woman was waiting for him.

She attacked with an aggressive onslaught of neon spears, throwing up to three at a time. He was only scathed twice in their relentless chase, up until he threw himself into the safety of another wildly overgrown plot of swamp grass.

She pursued, listening intently over her aggravated huffing as she began scouring the area. He heard a sudden shuffling a couple feet away; the restrained squee of a certain fanboy, followed by a sigh and sudden stomping, quickly fading out in the opposite direction.

Frisk emerged from the grass again, and the young boy bounced after him.

"Yo…did you see that?!" He jumped up and down in disbelief. "Undyne just…touched me! I'm never washing my face ever again-!"

 _'_ _God, this kid…'_

"Man, are you unlucky!" the boy continued to ramble. "If you were standing just a _little_ bit to the left-! Yo, don't worry, I'm sure we'll see her again!"

He tripped once more as he ran ahead. This did not deter him in the slightest.

 _'…_ _is starting to get on my nerves.'_

He followed anyway, past the very randomly placed table with crystalized cheese, onto the next room, were Sans stood, leaning against the cave wall next to an old telescope.

"Another break?"

"Huh-?" The skeleton's eyes snapped open and he glanced around with slight confusion before his focus fell on Frisk. "Oh. Heya, kid."

"What are you up to?"

"Just…tinkering with this telescope." He smiled. "I'm thinking of getting into the telescope business."

"Oh?"

"Heh. I'd usually charge 50,000 to use this premium telescope…but…since I know you, you can use it for free." He winked. "Howzabout it?"

"Sure." He pulled it to his eye and looked through.

"So? Whatcha think?"

…

"...It's just red."

"Really? Huh. That's weird." He pulled it over to his own eye. "I dunno what you're seein,' kid. I can see all kinds of cool stuff."

"Bullshit."

"Heh, no, yeah, it's broken." he said, pulling away from it with a grin.

"Probably wanna get that fixed before you try to sell people on it."

Sans shrugged. "It's not really mine. It's just here. Nobody bothers stealing it. 'Cause, y'know...it doesn't work." He sighed as he stretched his arms behind his head.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Oh yeah." A sly grin. "Lemme just…get right on that…" he finished with a wink, before his other eye slowly closed as well, and he drifted back into his dozed off state.

Frisk smiled at him, and with that, continued his quiet journey through the dank, desolate marsh.

It was funny when he thought about it. Waterfall was basically like a cave system within a cave system. Crystals glittered on the walls and ceiling. The glowing echo flowers painted his surroundings in neon blue. Lilly pads and cattails were abundant in the flowing water; glowing mushrooms found mostly on the edges of the solid ground. The deeper he went, the less activity there was, yet the atmosphere still felt alive as ever.

There was a sudden rippling in the water next to him. Seemingly out of nowhere, a muscular horse-merman creature emerged sensually from the water. He winked at Frisk and sent him a mighty flex.

Frisk blinked at him a moment before returning with a half-as-mighty flex.

Aaron grinned. "Flexing contest?"

And so the flexing battle commenced. Aaron's built biceps vs. Frisk's barely toned arms. The merhorse didn't seem to care though; likely just glad to have someone to humor him in this way. This ridiculous display of arms would have surely sent every Tem within a tem-foot radius running for cover.

The boy sent another dramatic flex, despite his awareness that he probably looked like a total idiot.

 _'"_ _Impressive."'_

 _'_ _Oh, shut up.'_

 _'"_ _My apologies, I was under the impression that you missed my little commentaries."'_

The 'battle' intensified, and eventually Aaron somehow managed to flex himself out of sight.

…

He continued through marsh.

A soft shuffling, which would have gone undetected under normal circumstances, was made plenty audible in this quiet environment. He turned swiftly, and caught a brief glimpse of golden pedals popping back into ground.

 _'_ _Little stalker.'_

Frisk started across the long strip that bridged a deep reservoir of sorts. Tentacles shot up on either side of him mere seconds after beginning this walk.

He turned to his left to see the happy onion face rise up from the water. The gigantic smile plastered on his gigantic face was unnerving; his character made even stranger by his initial slow, restrained speech.

"Hey…there… Noticed you were…here…" If it were even possible, an even more ridiculous smile overtook his expression. "I'm Onionsan! Onionsan, y'hear?"

 _'_ _Yep. Yep, I hear.'_ He tried not to make eye contact as the talkative onion followed him.

"You're visiting Waterfall, huh?!"

"Yeah."

"It's great here, huh?!"

"Yep."

"You love it, huh?!"

"Uh huh."

His eyes lit up. "Yeah! Me too! It's my big favorite!"

Frisk's pace became brisker with every word. But the chiming voice of Onionsan was unrelenting.

"Even though…the water's getting so shallow here… I…have to sit down all the time, but… H-hey! That's ok! It beats moving to the city!"

"Fascinating."

The onion's rambling just became noise at some point, eliciting the most generic responses from the boy as he set his sights on getting to the end of the room.

As Frisk began to leave the area, Onionsan bid him a long, drug-out goodbye before sinking back into the water by his lonesome.

A certain musical monster in the next room brought to him a reminder of the piano hidden off to the side. A nice place to take a break from all the activity that had resurfaced with these residents.

Frisk stood before it, touching his fingers on the old and worn keys. Single notes rang off the walls, which turned to hesitant combinations; a choppy practice that soon evolved to him playing simplified versions of famous compositions he was taught when he was young. What he remembered of them, that is.

…

He played the song.

He knew it so well by now.

As the last note was hit, the secret passage opened. Frisk just stared at it a few seconds, smiled, then turned to go back on the main path.

 _'"_ _Not going in?"'_

 _'_ _He's just gonna take it.'_

 _'"…_ _Why bother, then?"'_

Frisk shrugged. _'Just feels complete. I dunno.'_

 _…_

The water dripped from the ceiling like rain. This area of Waterfall held a major issue with water leakage; so much so that they had bins of complimentary umbrellas at both ends of this sector.

He took one, of course. Both for himself and the monster kid sheltering himself up ahead.

The child beamed excitedly as he saw this, for his lack of upper limbs would make it difficult to carry one himself.

Frisk walked with him at varying speeds, trying to keep the little monster dry under that umbrella as he ran about and rambled on about how 'super cool' Undyne was. He was more or less just a quiet listener in this one-sided conversation.

As the boy was going on about some school project about flowers, Frisk caught glimpse of something in one of the puddles' reflections. A flash of color that brought him to a halt and sent chills down his spine.

"You ok, dude?"

Frisk jumped.

The kid was looking up at him with innocent concern.

He shook his head a second, his eyes closed. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Hey, don't space out on me! I didn't even get to the best part yet!"

"Sorry, I'm listening. It was-" He rubbed his temple. "You were talking about Asgore's flowers, yeah?"

"Yeah. He was trying to teach us about responsibility and stuff. Which like I said, got me thinking…"

Frisk walked along with him, only half-listening. They eventually made it out of the rain to a ledge of sorts, with a lovely view of the castle off in the distance. They stopped a moment, taking this in, before the kid got bored and ran off ahead, looking back at Frisk expectantly.

As they entered the other end of the cave, Frisk returned the umbrella and followed the other to a steep ledge.

"Hmm…" The kid stared at it for a few moments, before suddenly perking up. "Got it!" He knelt down against its wall. "Climb on my shoulders."

Frisk laughed. "Are you kidding?"

"…Yo, you wanna see Undyne right…?"

He rolled his eyes and gripped what he could of the protruding rock and indentations in the wall.

The young boy watched in amazement as the other scrambled up and hoisted himself to the top seemingly effortlessly. "W-wow! That was… _so cool!"_

"Hey, hey _hey-!_ Don't-!"

His face smushed into the rock as he made a sorry attempt to do the same. A muffled "Oh darn it…" as he pulled away, unscathed somehow, but clearly disappointed. "It's ok though… I'll find a way. I always do!" His enthusiasm returned and he rushed the other way, tripped, and continued unfazed in search of an alternate route.

As he did so, Frisk continued on, where the warrior met him once again. Spears shot straight through the bottom of the wooden platform he scrambled on; his only indication of them prior to impact being their distinct blue light shining through the cracks of the boards. This chase ultimately ended with her slicing off the end part of the old structure in a fit of rage to rid herself of him.

The fall knocked him unconscious.

 _…_

 _"…_ _Sounds like it came from over here…"_

 _…_

 _"_ _O-oh, you've fallen down haven't you?"_

 _"_ _I heard a voice- A-are you ok?"_

 _…_

 _"_ _You're hurt..."_

 _…_

 _"_ _Please, I won't hurt you. I promise."_

 _…_

 _"_ _So…um…"_

 _"_ _So what's your name?"_

 _…_

 _"…_ _Chara. That's a nice name."_

 _…_

 _"_ _My name is…"_

 _…_

He held his head as he awoke and sat up in the moggy flower patch.

Like all times prior, now that he was up, he couldn't seem to bring forth any memory of what was said in that strange, recurring dream. It was completely lost to him. As such, he shrugged it off as usual, and continued on his way.

There was no avoiding it; the only way through Waterfall's junkyard was to wade through the water to the grounded settlement up ahead where Napstablook lived. Though not before a battle with the stuffing of a very angry dummy. It wouldn't have mattered if he punched him or ignored him; there was just no pleasing that guy. By the time he was saved by his ghost friend he was a soaked mess covered in fuzz fragments from the fight.

At this time Napstablook was timidly apologizing for ruining his 'fun.'

"Oh no…I just wanted to say hi… Oh no… I'm sorry… Ohhh…"

Before Frisk could manage to get a reassuring word in, the other continued, passively as ever.

"Well…I'm going to head home now… Oh… Umm… Feel free to…'come with' if you want… But no pressure… I understand if you're busy… It's fine… No worries… Just thought I'd offer…"

"Well it's obvious you want me to."

Nap turned away, looking about as flustered as a ghost could.

Frisk shot him a warm smile. "I've got time."

"R…really…?"

"Of course."

He spent a good 2 – 3 hours with him before he finally moved on to the poorly lit mazes that led him down to Temmie Village.

By accident.

The limitless stretch of the Tem's paw hunted him down through nearly the entire maze until it managed to poke him, then withdrew in a snap, satisfied.

The water he fell into as he escaped the maze was significantly warmer than in the rest of the cave, like that of a bath. Which could only mean, he was nearing Hotland, and by extension, Undyne's battleground.

He wandered through the pitch black, coming to an echo flower at the very end of the room.

"…Behind you."

He turned to see the familiar glint of armor. The darkness lifted as she approached; something that mystified him still.

It was clear she was done chasing him. She meant business now. She began giving her preceding speech to killing him. Seven human souls, Asgore will become a war god; it was a spiel he'd heard 100 times.

Of course the kid jumped out to interrupt his impending doom just as she was to attack. This led to her dragging him away by the cheek to explain the situation, which, upon finding out his friend was human, resulted in an even more confused and conflicted monster kid.

And then a confused and conflicted Undyne, as she witnessed him rescue the armless boy when he had fallen from the bridge to a precariously thin ledge. Though Frisk couldn't see her face, he could sense the growing hesitance in her.

Frisk met her up ahead, where she stood proudly on one of many towering stalagmites at Waterfall's end. She proceeded on another speech, scripted to some extent, similar to the first.

"Understand? Through your seventh and final soul, this world will be transformed. First, however, as is customary for those who make it this far…" A glance was shot his way. "I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people." Her gaze fell to the side. "It all started, long ago…" She stopped and turned toward him, swiftly, staring him down.

…

"No, you know what?"

Her tone was becoming increasingly hostile.

" _Screw it!_ Why should I tell that story? _When you're about to die?!"_ With a mighty battle cry, she threw her helmet from her head, finally revealing her face.

Frisk stepped forward as she went on, how they had waited their whole lives for this, how his death was the only thing that could bring them salvation, and himself, redemption.

She must have sensed the readiness in him, for she grinned and took on an aggressive stance. "That's it, then-! No more running away! **_Here I come!"_** she yelled as she lunged down from the rock's ledge and charged him.

Her attack managed to petrify the boy in his spot, allowing him only enough mobility for sharp deflections. With her iron resolve, and limitless spears, she pummeled him, unforgiving as ever.

His thoughts had been scattered throughout the day; understandably preoccupied with things of greater gravity. Nevertheless, he had completely neglected to bring along food for restoration.

By way of refrainment, he 'spared' her again and again, to no immediate avail. Despite having fought her a million times prior, he still got hit here and there by her swift attacks.

 _'"_ _Wow. You're really bad at this."'_

Frisk ignored him.

 _'"_ _You seriously rushed in so fast you forgot to bring food?"'_

He got no response and was instead met with the swishing, throbbing feeling of his host's health dropping down another few digits.

 _'"_ _Oh for God's sake."'_

With that Frisk's vision went black.

Ok. He died. No biggie.

So why wasn't he thrown back in time a few ticks to the beginning of this battle?

He was still aware.

 _This was weird._

He was starting to panic.

The blackout felt as though it wasn't present more than maybe 30 seconds, and in an instant, his vision was fully restored and he fell forward onto the ground.

Though, to his surprise he was met with a still battle ready Undyne, panting and sweating from exertion, staring blankly at him as if waiting for him to make a move.

 _'"_ _Run along, Frisky."'_

 _'_ _What-'_

She took a step forward.

 _'_ _Oh SHIT!'_

In a split second, he jumped to his feet and sprinted full speed down the exiting tunnels of Waterfall. He was caught two or three times, but always managed to wrestle himself out of her grasp. He ran past a sleeping Sans, over the bridge, and into the first room of Hotland; where upon arrival, the fish woman finally slowed and collapsed from the sudden heat.

He aided her with a cold cup of water, both to her gratitude and humiliation. She spared him a moment's glance of respect, before shooting to her feet and rushing back to the dank swampland.

Frisk got a glass of water. Sipped. Pondered. If there were no sequential hiccups in this, Papyrus would be arriving at Undyne's home within the hour; the only opportunity to befriend her. He wouldn't pass it up, nor should he make the skeleton wait around forever.

He backtracked, past a hushed conversation recorded amongst the echo flowers, deeper and deeper into the marsh.

Something was nagging him.

When the world was quiet, and he was certain he was completely alone, he spoke.

"...You helped me?"

 _'"_ _It was getting too painful to watch."'_

"Wait. Not only did you help me, but you _spared_ someone?"

 _'"_ _...I'm not against sparing, Frisk. Especially if it'll move this story the fuck along."'_

They both fell silent; the only sounds being the slosh of water and subtle squish of moss as Frisk made his way back into Waterfall.

He was eventually the one to break it.

"So I was thinking-"

 _'"_ _Now there's a concept."'_

 _'_ _Ha ha, shut the hell up.'_

"I was _thinking…_ " he started again. "…Maybe this can work out…"

…

 _'"_ _What? Maybe what can work out?"'_

Frisk was silent a moment, taking a deep breath before answering. _"This."_

 _'"_ _Not following."'_

"You. Me. This whole… _thing_ we have going on…"

 _'"_ _You mean me living inside you?"'_

He shuddered at the sudden snickering.

"I-I guess. Yeah. That."

 _'"_ _Really doing a 180 here, you know…"'_

…

 _'"_ _Sure this isn't just another mood swing?"'_

"No. At least I don't think so…" A pause. "I mean…your combat skills are…impressive."

 _'"_ _Thank you."'_

"…Could be really useful, y'know?"

A soft huff on Chara's end.

 _'"…_ _Well, I_ _ **suppose.**_ _That is, assuming you're willing to trust me with your body like that..."'_

"I'm not saying I trust you." He paused for a second. "Frankly, you're the lowest of the low of people I'd be willing to entrust myself to."

 _'"_ _This comes as absolutely no surprise to me."'_

Frisk sighed softly. "However…this could be beneficial."

 _'"_ _To you."'_

His lips curled into a smile. "Right. To me."

 _'"_ _So…what exactly is making this so_ _ **enticing**_ _that I'm just hopping all over it?"'_

"I dunno. What did you get out of taking over for that short span of time?"

 _'"_ _Like I said. You were failing_ _ **miserably.**_ _I saved your ass so I wouldn't have to watch you redo the whole damn thing."'_

The boy just shrugged.

 _'"_ _What's that for? Why are you shrugging?"'_

"Nothing. I don't want you to go possessing me left and right by any means, but maybe you'll do it once in a while to help out a…" he trailed off. "Help a Frisk out, y'know?"

 _'"_ _Right…"'_

"Hey, I may be _relieved as fuck_ to be back here, but I'm about as sick of seeing the same sequences as you are."

 _'"_ _I beg to differ."'_

Another long silence as he wordlessly trudged through the muddy terrain.

…

"…It is kinda nice to have company though." he murmured under his breath.

 _'"_ _Oh my God."'_ Chara chuckled in disbelief. _'"Wow. Do you hear yourself? Saying you have any kind of desire for my company…"'_

…

 _'"_ _Just sad, really."'_

"It's not."

 _'"_ _Oh trust me, Frisk. It is."'_

…

 _'"_ _Besides, I thought for sure you were still incomprehensibly pissed at me…"'_

"Ha. Oh believe me, _I am."_ Frisk muttered. But…if there's one thing I've learned from all this, it's…that the high road is usually the road to long-term happiness, I guess…?" he said with a shrug.

 _'"…_ _Wow."'_

There was an uncomfortable lull.

…

"What you did to me was...uncalled for at best."

 _'"_ _I'm not going to beg for forgiveness, Frisk."'_

"I'm not asking you to."

Hesitant silence.

"...I forgive you. If that means anything to you."

Chara was silent a moment before Frisk heard the dry laughter.

 _'"_ _Sure you do."'_

"I mean it."

 _'"_ _You 'forgive' me for your own sake. So you can finally stop dwelling on it like a little bitch."'_

"What difference does it make?"

 _'"_ _None. Other than the fact that you're trying to buy into your own bullshit."'_

A tense pause.

 _'"_ _What if I told you…to this moment, I don't regret it."'_

Frisk stopped walking.

 _'"_ _That's right. I don't regret fucking you into oblivion. Not a single second of it."'_

 _'…'_

 _'"_ _In fact, I look back on that time with_ _ **elation**_ _in my heart. Your screams, your cries,_ _ **your suffering…**_ _It is beauty in my eyes, and I_ _ **revel**_ _in it…"'_

His fists clenched.

 ** _'"_** ** _What if I told you I'd do it all over again?"'_**

Frisk's breathing became noticeably ragged; his heart suddenly felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.

 _'"_ _Sure you still want to forgive me?"'_

A few seconds ticked by; his question left unanswered.

 _'"_ _Exactly. So stop acting like you're doing me some noble favor. You're not as selfless as you try to be."'_

Silence filled the room for a minute or two as the speechless boy gathered himself.

"Fine. You're right. I am doing it for me."

Chara didn't respond. A second later he heard Frisk speaking in jumbled thoughts.

 _'_ _I'm sick of feeling shitty all the time. I'm sick of feeling angry and afraid and pissed off. I'm sick of holding a grudge and I'm sick of constantly wanting some kind of revenge- I'm sick of feeling_ _ **sick**_ _every time I look in the goddamn mirror and see your fucking face-!'_

 _'"_ _Easy now…"'_

Frisk halted with a grunt and took a long, deep breath. His feelings broke back into live speech.

"You're right. I can't forgive you right now."

…

"Hell, I might never be able to..."

 _'"_ _That's more like it."'_

…

"Do you get off on hearing that kinda thing, or somethin'?"

 _'"_ _No. I just value honesty."'_ His tone was teeming with sarcasm.

…

Frisk began walking again. There was no further comment from his counterpart. Strange as it was, this sudden, constant quietness was uncomfortable to say the least.

Eventually, that annoyingly pacifistic side of him caved. He couldn't just leave this unsettled.

…

"Listen. This is really hard, so if you can go two minutes without teasing me, that'd be fantastic." he said in a flat tone, glancing up at the glittery cave ceiling. _"Your shocking lack of remorse makes it that much more difficult…"_

A brief pause.

"But for the record. What you did to me was disgusting and wrong, and-"

 _'"_ _Oh spare me the self-righteous lecture."'_

…

 _'_ _Did you seriously just interrupt me?'_

 _'"_ _Oh, my apologies. Please, do continue."'_

…

 _'"_ _But if you could gloss over all the parts about my less-than-ethical self, that'd be super."'_

…

"You hurt me. No matter how _you_ see it, you _hurt me._ _And it's been_ _ **eating me up**_ _on the inside..."_ He took a shuddering breath. "I don't care if you regret it or not. Sucks that you don't…but…" His words trailed off before picking up again with a slightly more confident air. "But I am genuine in saying I'd like to put all of this behind us."

 _'"…_ _Is that so?"'_

Frisk nodded slowly, his hand making a tense, aimless gesture. "It's not like I can go the rest of my life without acknowledging you. Being forced together like this, wouldn't you agree it's in both our best interests to let bygones be bygones and at least try to get along?"

 _'"_ _...You realize it's completely impractical to try to repress..."'_ he stopped, sighing after a few moments. _'"Fine. I'll play along."'_

A pause.

 _'"_ _Though frankly I don't have high expectations for any of this."'_

…

 _'"_ _I'll try to be a bit more accommodating. That is, if it will make travelling with you less…_ _ **taxing."'**_ he muttered. _'"But if its friendship you're seeking, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere."'_

Frisk smiled in spite of it all.

"Definitely."

After a minute more of travelling, he arrived at the giant fish house. Papyrus was waiting outside.

"Oho! The human arrives!" He beamed as Frisk approached. "And what perfect timing you have! I was just about to hang out with Undyne! One of my many cool friends!" He gasped slightly. "You should hang out with us too! You're both so cool, I'm sure you would get along with absolutely no unforeseen problems whatsoever! What do you say, human?"

"Sure, why n-"

"Perfect! Stand behind me, so we can make it a surprise! Oh-! Also!" He pulled a wrapped dog biscuit out of nowhere. "Make sure to give her this! She loves these!"

The biscuit was shoved into Frisk's hands, and immediately following, Papyrus gave several enthusiastic knocks to the door.

The door, being the teeth of the fish house, slid up into the ceiling and down into the bottom ground like an opening jaw; revealing the lady-warrior, now dressed in simple, casual clothes. She was much skinnier than her armor let on, though still quite built with muscle. She wore an eyepatch over her left eye, and kept her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail despite the informal setting. Her voice was somewhat deep for a woman, and she spoke with a slight lisp due to her obstructive teeth.

"Hi, Papyrus!" Not seeing him, she greeted her friend, in a tone completely opposite of what she used with him. "Ready for your extra-private, one-on-one training?"

"You bet I am! And I brought a friend! His name is Frisk!"

"Hi Frisk, I don't believe we've…" She froze as the skeleton stepped aside.

…

Her eye glared spitefully at him, then darted to Papyrus, who wore that same stupid smile.

She gritted her teeth, fighting to keep her composure. Her eyes seemed locked in that widened, borderline psychotic look.

"Why don't. You two. Come in?"

Papyrus excitedly followed her inside, completely unaware of this drastic shift of mood.

"Here, Undyne!" he started as Frisk entered the house. "My friend brought a gift for you! All on his own!" He leaned to Frisk's ear and whispered, "This is the part where you give her the gift and you two become bestest besties!"

Frisk took a few steps her way and handed her the biscuit. "Yeah, um. Hope you like it."

"Uhhh… Thanks." she responded awkwardly. She snatched it quickly. "I'll, uh, put it with the others."

The biscuit was then tossed into a drawer with about 15 others identical to it.

Undyne turned to Papyrus, trying to disregard the human in her house. "So are we ready to start-?"

"Whoopsy doopsy! I just remembered! I have to go to the bathroom! You two have fun!" The skeleton shouted giddily before jumping out the window.

Undyne stared at the shattered glass now littering the floor, before slowly turning her attention to Frisk.

…

"So why are _you_ here? To rub your victory in my face? To humiliate me even further? _Is that it?"_

"No. C'mon…"

"Then why are you here?" She perked up suddenly, once again shooting him that hostile grin. "Wait, I get it." Her eyes squinted at him challengingly. "You think that I'm gonna be friends with you, huh? _Right?"_

"Yeah, I mean that's what I was hoping-"

A ridiculous grin overtook her. "Really? _How delightful!_ I accept! Let's all frolic in the fields of friendship!"

"Really?"

"No, not really, you dolt!" She scowled at him. "Why would I _ever_ befriend _you?!"_ Another despising glare. "Hell, if you weren't my houseguest, I'd beat you to a bloody pulp right now. You're the enemy of everyone's hopes and dreams. _I will_ _ **never**_ _be your friend._ Now get out of my house."

"Dang! What a shame..."

They both turned to see Papyrus peering through the broken window.

"I really thought Undyne could be friends with you. And the three of us could frolic in the fields of friendship together! But I guess… _I overestimated her."_ A quiet sigh. "She's just not up to the challenge…" he murmured as he slunk away.

"Challenge?! What?!" Her eye went wide again. "Papyrus! Wait a second-! _Dammit!"_ She turned to him sharply. "He thinks I can't befriend the likes of _you?!_ Ha! What a joke! I could make friends with a wimpy loser like you any day!"

"Hey-"

"I'll show him!" A crooked smirk spread across her face. "Listen up, human. We're not _just_ going to be friends. Oh no." She slunk closer to him. "We're going to be… ** _besties."_** She held her hands to her cheeks. "I'll make you like me so much…y _ou won't be able to think of anyone else!"_

 _'"_ _Heh."'_

Two sets of snickering went off around him.

"It's the _perfect revenge!"_ Undyne halted her tangent, her voice suddenly taking on an unnatural gentleness. "It's so nice to have you over… Why don't you…have a seat?" She forced a welcoming gesture toward the table.

Her stance was stiff as he did so.

"Comfortable?" She smiled awkwardly. "I'll uh…get you something to drink."

Undyne proceeded to lay out a variety of strange drink choices across the counter.

"All set! What would you like?"

As soon as he made the slightest move, a spear was chucked at him, effectively splitting her table in two.

She stared at him wildly as she spoke. _"Hey! Don't get up! You're the guest! Sit down and enjoy yourself!"_

…

She calmed down in an instant. "Um, why not just…point to what you want? You can use the spear!"

He flicked the spear toward the refrigerator.

"The fridge?! You want to have the entire fridge?!"

"No, I want more options."

 _"_ _Gyh-!_ _Why you ungrateful, insufferable-!"_ She stopped herself. She refused to give way to his teasing. "Too bad! You get what you get! Now _pick something!"_

He turned the spear toward the giant sword propped against the wall. Undyne sneered at him.

 _"_ _Believe me, I would_ _ **gladly**_ _give you your fill of swords."_ she muttered. Her eyes closed a moment as she tried to maintain her perfect hostess attitude. "If you weren't my beloved houseguest, that is!"

She opened her eyes to see the spear pointed teasingly at her.

"…You're joking."

Frisk sent her an annoying, mischievous smile. "Maybe."

"…Are you… _hitting on me?"_

"Maybe."

She clenched her teeth in an uncomfortable smile. "Ha. Well sorry, buddy. I'm not really into your type."

"What, humans?"

"…That too. _Now pick a fuckin' drink before I throw one at you-!"_

He flipped it in a random direction.

…

"Soda? Ha." She embraced the change of subject. "Actually, even though you pointed to it, you don't look very happy. Heh, that's fine! I think soda's kinda gross too. It rots your teeth… It rots your mind… _It rots your fighting spirit-!"_

"Why do you have it then?"

"Huh? Oh." A shy little smirk. "No reason."

The spear turned to the green container.

Oh, you want some hot chocolate?" She picked it up, eyes shooting wide in embarrassment at its lack of weight. "Dammit, this can's empty- _Gyah-!"_ She yelled as she threw the can across the floor. "This is getting ridiculous, I'll just make you some freakin' tea!"

The pot clattered as she tossed it onto the stove.

"…It'll take a moment for the water to boil." She faced away from him, staring at the heating water.

A good minute or two ticked by in silence. Eventually, bubbling and fizzling noises were emitted from the pot.

"There we go…" Undyne walked over to his seat, placing a cup of steaming tea before him. She took a seat on the other side of the table, a cup of her own in her hands.

"Shit-!" He almost dropped the cup as he touched its scorching surface.

"Oh c'mon, it's not _that_ hot! Just drink it already!"

Frisk reluctantly took a sip. It burnt his tongue on contact. He tried to discreetly set it down again.

"It's pretty good, right?"

"Mm." He nodded, his mouth still recovering from the burning liquid.

She grinned. "Nothing but the best for my _absolutely precious friend!"_

There was a sudden silence between them. Awkwardness began to set in.

…

"So, uh…" Frisk finally spoke, glancing off to the side of the room. "…I like your piano."

"Thanks."

"So you play?"

"Dude, I wouldn't own a freakin' piano if I didn't."

"Right, right." He held a palm to his face in embarrassment.

…

"Ha. One time Alphys'…uh…friend? Came over here. All he did was lie seductively on the piano…and fed himself grapes." She winced. "I don't really like that guy." A grin. "But I admire his lifestyle."

Frisk smiled with a nod. He glanced over at it again. "Will you play something?"

"What? I'm not gonna serenade you."

"For the sake of friendship?"

"Nice try."

Another long pause as they sipped their now slightly cooled tea.

"Hey… Y'know…it's kind of strange you chose _that_ tea…" She glanced off a moment. "Golden flower tea… That's Asgore's favorite kind." Her eye closed and she took a deep breath. "Actually, now that I think about it… You kinda remind me of him. …Sort of." The woman's pondering words sounded more like she was talking to herself than him.

Silence fell again.

…

"Hey…" Frisk stared over at her. "…Can I ask what happened to your eye?" he implored hesitantly.

Her uncovered golden eye sharply locked with his. _"Ha ha._ _ **It's none of your business."**_

"I'm sorry." he quickly apologized, averting his gaze.

She sighed, her expression softening some. "Accidents happen, kid. Nothin' you can do about 'em, 'til it's too late..." she finished with a shrug.

"…I see."

…

"Y'know, I was a pretty hotheaded kid."

"I hear ya…"

She chuckled. "Heh. Once, to prove I was the strongest, I tried to fight Asgore." A pause. "Emphasis on _tried._ I couldn't land a single blow on him! And worse, the whole time, he refused to fight back!"

She closed her eye and turned her head. "I was so humiliated…" A fond smile. "Heh… Afterwards, he apologized and said something goofy…"

Her voice deepened as she imitated the man. "'Excuse me, do you want to know how to beat me?' Of course I said yes, and from then on, he trained me. One day, during practice, I finally knocked him down. I felt…bad. But he was beaming…" She erupted with a laugh. "I had never seen someone more proud to get their ass kicked! Heh. Anyway, long story short, he kept training me… Ha! And now I'm the head of the Royal Guard! I'm the one who gets to teach all the newbies how to fight! …Like, um…Papyrus…"

…

Undyne looked away with a sigh. "To be honest, though…I don't know if…I can ever let Papyrus into the Royal Guard." Her head snapped in his direction. "But don't you dare tell him I said that!" She slunk back down in her chair. "He's just… Well… I mean, it's not that he's weak. He's actually pretty freakin' tough!"

Frisk just nodded along.

Her gaze was downcast again. "It's just that…he's…he's too innocent and nice. I mean, look. He was _supposed_ to capture you. And he ended up being chummy with you instead… I could _never_ send him into battle! He'd get ripped into little smiling shreds." A slight awkward smirk. "That's part of why… I started teaching him how to cook, y'know?" Her smile faded. "So, um, maybe he can do something else with his life…"

The woman perked up suddenly.

"Oh, sorry. I was talking for so long…" She stood. "You're out of tea, aren't you? I'll get you some more." She took a few steps to the middle of the kitchen, before she froze. Slowly, she turned back to Frisk. "Wait a second. Papyrus… His cooking lesson…" Her hands balled into fists. _"He was supposed to have that right now!"_ She squinted at him. "And if _he's_ not here to have it… **_You'll have to have it for him!"_**

With a sudden energetic leap, she jumped onto the counter, kicking everything off as she ran across.

"That's right! Nothing has brought Papyrus and I closer than cooking! Which means that if I give you his lesson…" She grinned wildly. _"We'll become closer than you can ever imagine!"_ A hysterical laugh. "Afraid?! _We're gonna be best friends!"_

She sprung over, grabbed Frisk by his hair, and leapt back in front of the counter, where they began their crazy cook fest.

"Let's start with the sauce!"

…

"Oh my god, stop petting the enemy! I'll show you how it's done!"

Tomato juice covered the walls.

"Now-! We add the noodles!"

Suspenseful clanging as each noodle was carefully added one by one.

 _"_ _Nice?_ Alright! Now it's time to stir the pasta! As a general rule of thumb, the more you stir… **_The better it is!"_**

Her spear annihilated the upper part of the pot sending splashes of scolding water everywhere.

"Haha! That's the stuff! Now onto the final step! _Turn up the heat!"_

"Ugh, let me do it-! See?! This is how you-!"

A fire broke out as the heater was spun to its maximum level. There was a small explosion. Ash covered their faces, and flames licked around them.

Undyne turned to him with a deranged smile, as if her house wasn't totally going up in flames. "So what's next? Scrapbooking? Friendship bracelets?"

The boy just grabbed her wrist and hurried her outside.

"Well, that was fun, huh?! We'll have to hang out again sometime-!"

"Undyne!"

"What?" She grinned.

…

"Oh." She blinked at the sight of her home burning down in shambles. "Well shit." She stared a few seconds more; then exhaled deeply, scratching the back of her head.

Frisk touched a hand to her shoulder for a moment, before withdrawing it and dropping it awkwardly at his side again.

She held her arms and sighed again. "…Kinda got carried away, I guess…"

"Yeah…"

The moisture in the atmosphere, in the air, the ground, the cave walls, was already aiding in snuffing out the flames. The smoke from this collected at the cave's top, creating a new kind of fogginess around them.

Undyne sat down on the wet, rocky ground, her eyes fixated on the destruction.

Frisk joined her. Personally he would have made more of an effort to put it out; had it been his own home that is.

…

"You ok?"

She nodded with a solemn expression. "Fine."

…

"Most of that stuff's made to be heat resistant, anyhow. The important stuff. It'll be fine."

"Still though."

She grinned suddenly. "Hey, it's not the first time it's happened, y'know. Once I accidentally smashed out half the kitchen with a boulder!"

"Ha." He chuckled along with her.

…

"…It was a cool looking house."

"Heh. I know some guys in Hotland. With their help, it shouldn't be too hard to rebuild." She smiled fondly. "Alphys helped me design it. I'm sure she's still got the blueprints and everything… Buried somewhere in her nerd junk."

He noticed she traced her fingers aimlessly on the ground as she spoke of her.

…

She straightened her posture and turned to him abruptly, her mood shifting.

"Hey. Lemme ask you something."

"Yeah?" The boy recoiled slightly as she shot him an unintentionally overbearing scowl.

"…Why'd you stop back there?"

"…Oh." Frisk glanced away a moment. "I didn't wanna fight you."

"You serious?" Her expression showed she was clearly dumbfounded by this. She crossed her arms across her chest. "Why not?"

He shrugged. "No need for it."

 _"…_ _No need for it?"_ she repeated in a tone of confusion. "Buddy, I had every mind to kill you soon as I got my hands on you; don't act like there was no need to-"

She froze up a little.

"I mean, shit. If that's the case you've got some shitty self-preservation instincts, kid…" A smile forced its way onto her face as a discomforted chuckle escaped her. "Seriously, if it weren't for your mad dodging skills, you'd be so dead right now."

She punched his arm playfully.

A somber smile from the other. "Yeah. Guess I would, wouldn't I?"

"…Yeah…" The fish woman blinked back and forth between him and the ground. "But I mean…thanks anyway. For doin' what you did." She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "I owe ya one. Seriously. …Heh." That grin returned. "So if you ever need a little muscle to back ya up on your quests, you know who to call!" she finished with a flex of her arm.

"So this means we're friends, then?"

"Yeah, sure." she replied with a chuckle, brushing back a stray strand of burnt hair.

Frisk smirked. "So that means…you bested Papyrus' challenge after all."

"Ha! You bet I did!" She stood up proudly. "He should know better than to challenge me like that! Psh! Not like it was hard or anything. You're not so bad, for a human."

"Thanks, I think?"

"Welcome!"

The fish woman grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet as well.

…

"I guess we should find you someplace to go. Or something."

"Nah, it's fine. I'll stay at my-" A brief hiccup in her words. "friend's house. Alphys. In Hotland."

 _"_ _Ohhh…"_

They both turned around to see Napstablook floating there in uncertainty.

"Sorry…I saw the fire while I was going for a…walk… Ohh…I'm sorry… I interrupted, didn't I…? I was going to offer…to let you guys stay…with me… But…now this…is really awkward… I'll just go… _Ohh…"_

"Wait, _wait."_ Frisk waved for the fading ghost to stop. "We'd be happy to-"

"He'd be happy to!" Undyne pushed Frisk toward him with a grin. "I, on the other hand…" That tiny little smirk was back. "Have places to be. See you guys!" She waved to them as she rushed off to the riverboat.

"Oh…guess it's just…me and you, then…huh, Frisk…?"

"Looks like it."

"Oh…that's cool…"

There was a short silence.

"So do you wanna…go back…or hang out some more…or something…?"

"Sure."

He followed Nap to his home again. To some degree they simply repeated their previous hangout in the activities they decided on.

Come later in the day, Nap set up what he could for Frisk in terms of a more comfortable resting spot. He had an old blanket. That was about it. It embarrassed the insecure ghost, but Frisk reassured him that the makeshift bed was all fine and adequate.

They rested.

Frisk fell deeper and deeper into sleep, though never dreamt up anything of much significance.

Time and sequence were nonexistent.

There was a mist at some point, in which Chara showed himself through. He was noticed immediately by the dream's host, given the dull happenings around them.

He just stood there, staring at him from afar.

Frisk locked in the position he was in and stared back, emotionless. Eventually he let his arms go lax at his sides and cocked his head at the other.

Chara seemed to take that as cue to approach. He did so, silently, his cold, neutral expression never faltering.

He stopped mere feet in front of him. Blinking. Waiting.

 _'_ _Waiting for what?'_

Chara rolled his eyes. He wasn't exactly an awkward guy, but his reasonless presence was beginning to make this interaction just that.

Frisk shifted slightly as he spoke. "...What?"

"What?" The other repeated immediately.

…

"What do you want, man...?"

He snickered briefly at his informality. "…Nothing."

...

 _'_ _You're not really good at this, are you?'_

A slight glare. "At what?"

"...Talking."

He scoffed. "If that's the case, you're much worse than me in that regard."

A couple seconds of silence between them.

"Well, if you don't have anything to say, I'd appreciate it if you'd leave."

"Oh, but I thought you wanted to get to know each other better! 'Frolic in the fields of friendship,' as it were." he mocked with a wave of his hand.

"I never said that. Not to you, at least."

He closed his eyes with a grin. "I know. All fine by me, Frisk. All fine by me..."

Their conversation trailed into quiet again.

…

"...My request from before still stands though."

Chara huffed with an air of irritation. "I didn't exactly come here for nothing, you know."

 _'_ _You literally just said-'_

He cut him off with a _'tsk'_ and glanced off. "...I have something for you."

"...What?"

"If you're willing to accept it."

"...Well, what is it...?" His voice was brimming with caution.

Chara met his eyes. "A dream."

...

"...A dream?" Frisk's head tilted slightly in confusion.

"Consider it a truce offering of sorts. To making our coexistence more tolerable."

"...So how does that work?"

Chara flicked his gaze to the side. "Well... Simple, really. You tell me what you want. And I'll fabricate it for you. Here. While your senses are at their peak."

Frisk smiled slightly. "That...actually sounds really nice..."

"Don't get used to it. It causes my form incredible strain." His eyes remained casually fixated on their surroundings. "However, I'm willing to do it this once as a gift. So pick something worthwhile."

"It can be anything?"

"Anything conceivable between the both of us is fair game, yes."

Silence swept over them as Frisk pondered this.

...

"I want to fly." He grinned awkwardly as the other rolled his eyes.

"...You're a very simple man, aren't you?"

Somehow Frisk's expression grew even more childish.

He sighed again. "Fine. Where?"

"Anywhere. Somewhere nice..."

Chara shook his head as he was met with another idiotic smile. The boy was clearly excited for whatever he was about to create for him.

"Alright. Take my hand."

Frisk's smile fell as he stared down at the other's outstretched palm.

"Go on. We'll need a linkage if we're to make this work properly."

"..."

His hand hesitated. He glanced back at the other with a slight air of mistrust.

Chara seemed to notice his uncertainty. "...It's not a trick. I promise." he stated flatly, his hand gesturing itself in a 'come along' manner.

Reservation still nagged him. However, reading into the demeanor of this usually cynical man, this was the most sincere he'd ever seen him.

"Ok..."

His hand was then clasped tightly in the other's cold grip. They were locked in something of an arm-wrestle position; secure, but without combative strain.

"Alright... Prepare for takeoff, Frisk."

Chara closed his eyes in focus. Moments later, subtle vibrations rang about the atmosphere.

Frisk gulped as he felt the ground falling out from under them. What was blurry, monochrome simplicity began melting in on itself; emerging from it watery splits of color. It ripped and bled through the washed-out shroud like paint, spreading around from a multitude of start points.

He clutched the demon's hand in both of his as their bodies defied gravity amidst their changing location. All prior subconscious workings gave way to this new creation; a glorious display of vivid sunset oranges, yellows, soft pinks, blues, and lilac tones. As the base color reached completion, sharp angles of grand, wispy clouds formed around them, their soft edges laced in a shiny, golden glow. They seemed to stretch off into infinity across this flawless expanse.

His vision broke from this scene, just long enough to pay a moment's heed to the one creating all of it. Chara was staring dead at him. Almost _through_ him. His pupils were constricted to black pin pricks in orbs of fire. And then, without warning, his body disintegrated to dust; bursting into shining particle flecks that met and meshed with the sky as thousands of tiny stars.

Frisk was left alone, levitating freely in the air. Air that had just been given the effect of cold wind against afternoon heat.

He glanced around with uncertainty for a moment before attempting an experimental glide backwards, smiling widely at the little rush it gave him. He soon felt at ease with these new laws of physics and threw himself about in a playful manner.

The clarity in which he was seeing this world was beyond description, with details being progressively added even after Chara's disappearance. The colors were spectacular; the areal views and angling absolutely magnificent… It was unreal. Truly unlike anything he had ever seen. He felt as though he was inside a photograph of a sky shot; one that was captivating and perfect in every way imaginable.

A sudden voice shot through the air, the sound echoing and bouncing above Frisk's own gleeful laughs as he flew about.

"Hold up a tick, I thought you were afraid of heights!"

"I am! But not in here!" Frisk shouted back joyfully, taking another swoop and dive.

The boy flew on with childish abandon, for what could have been measured as miles, through a never-ending space of fresh air, freedom, and _life._

There was an inevitable shift in this, as his worldly consciousness began pouring back in. Everything around him began slowly fading out into a bright white. He drank in every moment he could of the dream's duration leading up to this. With each passing second he felt even lighter, somehow, as he was lifted from his sleep.

Frisk awoke to a minor neck pain and stiffened limbs, from trying to rest on a wooden floor. He lied there a moment, still awestruck from what he had just seen. There was some slight creaking in the floorboards from the moisture and moderate temperature drop; likely the sound that stirred him. Eventually he sat up with a soft groan and stretched. He stood, now struck with restlessness, and exited into the caves again.

He heard the quiet, gentle melody of a siren girl singing to herself, somewhere out there in the neon waters.

He walked along the river's edge, staring up at the gleaming reflections from the cave ceiling. There was a long, lovely silence, before he finally decided to address what was on his mind.

 _'…_ _Thank you. For doing that...'_ He smiled. _'It was really...'_ he trailed off in attempt to find the right word to describe his experience. It all seemed so clear a minute ago...

But nothing came.

...

 _'"_ _It's no problem."'_ Chara finally spoke.

His tone was flat, devoid of pretty much any emotion other than obligation. In all honesty, Frisk couldn't read him in the slightest.

 _'_ _...Thanks anyway.'_

...

No response. Yet he couldn't shake this sense of someone stalking him. Or staring at him. He glanced around a moment; no one in sight.

 _'_ _Chara?'_

The feeling stopped instantaneously.

...

He held his arm awkwardly with a soft sigh. _'Well...I'm going back.'_

Silence.

He turned and slowly made his way toward the little blue house.

...

 _'_ _Are you coming too?'_

A slight huff. _'" No."'_

 _'_ _...Ok then.'_

He went inside and lied down on the blanket beside the sleeping ghost, eventually making himself comfortable.

…

 _'_ _...Hey.'_

 _'"_ _What?"'_

 _'_ _Where was that place from?'_

...

 _'_ _In the dream...?'_

...

 _'"_ _Nowhere."'_

Frisk cocked his head slightly.

 _'"_ _...I made it up."'_

 _'_ _...You did?'_

 _'"_ _Mhm."'_

He blinked in slight disbelief. _'...You...kinda have a beautiful imagination then...'_

He felt a weird twinge in the back of his head.

Chara was silent. When he spoke again, his words came across forced, and distant.

 _'"_ _...Just go to sleep, Frisk."'_


	10. Chapter 10

**_Chapter 10_**

His neck cracked slightly as he sat up. Hours had passed, he could be sure. Frisk glanced over at his ghost friend, assumed sleeping until he noticed his wide, empty eyes. His breath hitched a moment, fear piercing his imagination in an instant, giving him a moment's desire to wake the little thing, until he saw a gentle rise and fall of his body.

He was breathing.

Ghosts…breathe. He didn't know that.

He also didn't know they slept with their eyes open.

 _Unsettling, nonetheless._

 _'"_ _Afraid I strangled your little friend?"'_

No response, other than that of awkward recovering from overreaction.

 _'"_ _Can't kill what's already dead, I'm afraid."'_

Frisk stood up, wincing in pain as he rotated his head, resulting in a few cracks.

 _'_ _My neck hurts.'_

 _'"_ _That's what happens when you sleep on hardwood flooring all night."'_

 _'_ _Is it even morning yet?'_

 _'"_ _No telling, really."'_ A pause. _'"If you're rested, just go. No use fucking up your neck any more."'_

Deciding not to wake the other, he took his quiet leave, making his way from Waterfall's center to the beginning terrain of Hotland. The area was quiet, only the distant hum of heavy machinery as he made his way to the laboratory.

He passed the two guards blocking the upward path, not giving them much acknowledgement given he already knew there was no making them budge.

The laboratory's door was unlocked, and he entered the building, lights off and dark other than the large screen which tracked him on camera.

As he passed a messy desk covered in strewn about paperwork and little knickknacks, the lights came on, nearly giving a heart attack to the home's occupant as she noticed her guest.

 _"_ _Gah! Oh my God!"_ she gasped sharply, clutching the robe she was currently wearing closer over chest.

 _'"_ _Guess it_ _ **is**_ _morning, then."'_

"Heya." Frisk waved at her casually, despite her slightly compromised state.

"Oh. My God." She looked around nervously and started quickly pacing about in her spot. "I didn't expect you to show up so soon- I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, it's all messy, and…" she trailed off. "Umm… H-hiya!" She waved her fingers shyly. "I'm…Dr. Alphys… Royal Scientist…and such… A-anyway, nice to finally meet you, Frisk!" She waved a second time.

"Wait- How do you know my name?" A half-genuine inquisition. Deduction of how was about as obvious as that enormous screen in the other room; but given she'd never used his name directly in past timelines, this minute anomaly sort of begged such a question be asked.

"O-oh-! Ah- A-actually, since you've stepped out of the ruins, I've…been watching you- **Wait!** I mean **no-!** I-I mean-! I _was_ watching you, but not like, _watch_ watching you, I mean- Oh-!" She covered her face embarrassedly. "I-I'm sorry...y-you must think I'm like...really weird now or something... G-God what an awful first impression..." She curled in on herself further.

"No, its fine." he replied nonchalantly.

"...Wh-what?"

He smiled. "It's not the weirdest first impression I've seen down here."

Alphys giggled at that, much more abrasively than she'd intended, through gritted teeth posed in the stiffest sort of grin imaginable. Her shoulders rose high above her neck, hands clasped together in front of her with such tension that her discomfort would be visible to anyone in the same vicinity as her.

She was, to her very essence, all that encompassed being painfully awkward.

Suddenly, out of blue, an animated, slightly effeminate and distorted male voice rung out from behind a door further down the room.

 _"_ _Augh!_ Alphys! Just when _were_ you planning on giving me my grand introduction?!"

"A-ah! I-I'm sorry- Um-! Frisk! A-allow me to- introduce- er, _grandly introduce,_ my very good f-friend-"

There was a loud robotic sigh. The door opened, and a humanoid robot emerged from the confines of whatever small little space he had crammed himself in.

"Oh, no matter. The mood's been killed." Another sassy sort of huff as he walked over to the other two, smoothing out his slightly ruffled hair as he went. A welcoming smile of perfect white teeth flashed as he stood before their guest.

"Why hello, Frisk!" He waved elegantly.

"You know my name too?"

"But of course! Oh, I've heard so much about you! Alphys here has been stalking you non-stop for the past three days or so-"

 **"** **Mnn-!"** A sort of _'eep'_ was emitted, half-caught in her throat and further muffled by her tightly pursed lips.

"What darling, it's only true!"

"I- I wasn't _stalking_ him, I was….silently observing…for research…on physical confrontations…" she murmured under her breath.

"…Right. _Of course._ " the other agreed with a cheeky grin.

Her face was absolutely flushed. She ran off to the escalator on the right, shouting as she did so. "L-let me go get changed real quick!"

"She's a delight, isn't she?" the robot spoke as he watched her go. "Anyway~" He turned back to the boy. "I am Mettaton~ Star of the Underground! King of Monster Entertainment! Primary producer of…well, pretty much every TV show you'll see down here; you get the idea."

He grinned proudly and Frisk smiled back, extending a hand to him. "Well it's nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure, darling~" Instead of shaking it, he took the other's hand to his lips and kissed it. This certainly caught Frisk off guard, but he held back any weird reactions and just sent him another polite smile.

His head rose again with a sort of flirtatious look. In that moment, Alphys came riding down the other escalator, now dressed in a formal looking lab coat. "Ok, I'm back!" She ran over excitedly to a spot next to the others, stopped, then took a few nervous steps back as all attention shifted to her.

"R-right, so where were we on this conversation?"

"You were stalking the boy."

She huffed loudly in protest. "Don't you have _boots_ to mend or something-?!"

Mettaton gasped. "Oh dear Lord my **_boots!_** I need those for my show tomorrow night!" he exclaimed, rushing off in a fit.

"Mm!" She straightened her glasses with a passive little huff. "Well. On a more _important_ note. Frisk. If my predictions are correct, you're ultimately on your way to the barrier- the uh, 'portal' if you will, that leads to the surface, right?"

Frisk nodded.

"R-right, so um- to _get_ to the barrier, you'll have to go up through the Core, and to get there you'll have to go through the rest of Hotland, wh-which is where we are now…o-obviously…" Her posture shuffled slightly. "This…normally wouldn't be much of a hassle… H-however, right now our…elevators are…well… _less than functional."_

"They're busted."

"Y-yeah."

"And you want me to fix them."

"Y…es…?" She laughed uncomfortably. "I-it's just jammed, probably. If you ride it through each level, then down from the top floor, it should get… _unjammed._ Of course, uh, to get there you have to…sorta…travel up through the whole area on foot…through uh…several floors…of puzzles…" An apologetic looking grin. "I-it'll certainly make getting around a lot easier in the future though! F-for everyone, actually! You'd be like a local hero, s-sorta!"

"Well, I think I can do that." he stated with a confident smile, walking off to the lab's exit.

"Wait, wait!"

The girl ran over to him.

"Let me give you my ph-phone number! Th-then…m-maybe…if you need help, I could…" she trailed off, smiling awkwardly at the ground.

"Actually, I don't have a phone." Frisk spoke up after a few seconds.

"O-oh!" She went quickly to her desk and began searching one of the drawers. "Um- ah, here!" She pulled out a fairly normal looking cellphone and rushed back to him. "You can have this one! I-it's the latest model. S-sort of."

"Aw, thanks-"

"Ah!" She pulled it away just as he was reaching for it. "W-wait a sec-" Her fingers were feverishly typing something. "Th-there! I, uh- I signed you up on one of our s-social networks, and…um…added…myself…to your friends list… F-for convenience purposes of course!"

She grinned stupidly.

Such a weird tension accompanied the silence.

Her eyes shifted from side to side. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead.

"I-I have to go to the bathroom!" she finally exclaimed, running off through a labeled door and leaving Frisk to his own devices.

He left through the exit at the far right. He missed the air conditioning the moment he stepped out. The heat here…it was beyond all natural levels a human should be expected to endure. This place was basically a settlement inside of a volcano.

"…Welp. Here we go."

 _'"_ _Yep."'_

"On this really long hot-trek."

 _'"_ _Tediously long."'_

"Tediously _hot…"_

 _'"…_ _Yes…"'_

He began walking toward the first conveyer belt.

"Lots of monsters about to jump my poor, defenseless self."

 _'"…_ _You want me to do it, don't you?"'_

 _'_ _Would you?'_

A long, drug out sigh.

 _'"_ _Fine. Move over."'_

There was a slight shift in him, his posture instantly stiffening.

 _"_ _Lazy fuck."_ his new voice muttered under his breath.

"Well _that_ was nerve-wrecking experience…" Alphys murmured to herself as she resurfaced in her home. Hiding out in the bathroom, it never failed her.

"Oh, where'd Frisky go~?"

She jumped slightly. "A-ah, I j-just sent him out. He's going up to the upper levels t-to repair the elevator."

"Ooh, _fun!"_ he teased. "Think I should follow? Give the boy a… _proper_ MTT greeting?"

"Er, no." Her subtle frown quickly faded, eyes lighting slightly. "Eh um- A-actually…" She rubbed the back of her neck.

She looked up, only to realize he wasn't paying a lick of attention to her, instead looking through a fairly large closet storing various costumes and props.

"Which bit do you think I should do for him, then?"

Mettaton didn't seem to be asking her, so absorbed in his frantic rummaging, his words came out as little more than thoughtful utterances to himself.

A red boot went flying behind him.

"No. No." _"Dammit!_ Where _did_ I put my _good boots?"_

A neon pink jacket joined a growing pile of discarded outfits.

"Oh, no matter. I suppose I'll have to wear _last week's_ costume. Or perhaps-! A mix of both last week's and the one from Thursday's episode!"

Alphys now was no longer paying attention to this. She sat stiffly by her computer, tapping her fingers on the desk absentmindedly. She sighed, picking up her phone.

This would take awhile.

The human stared down at a Vulkin, who had been delightfully happy about five minutes ago before he had started publicly berating him for no apparent reason.

 _"_ _Your ass looks like a sack of trash."_

 _"_ _You aren't worthy of love."_

 _"_ _I don't want your coffee, little shit."_

The little monster sniffled as the intimidating human insulted him.

He simply huffed, backing away slightly to conclude his 'battle.' It still counted as sparing. Out of line to his end goals as his host would deem it, _it still counted, dammit._

He trudged further along as the monster scampered out of his sight.

 _"_ _Good God if I see one more fucking-"_

At that moment his phone buzzed obnoxiously in his pocket.

 **"** **What?"**

 _"_ _Ah-ah-ah-um-ah-I-I-"_

Dial tone.

Just as he was about to shove it back in his pocket, it rang again.

He took a long breath, letting it ring two or three times in the process, before answering again. His tone was controlled this time, though still teetering on annoyance; his words forced through about the fakest smile one could imagine.

 _"_ _What is it…doctor?"_

"Uh- I think…um… H-hey, about the puzzles on the left and right-! They're a bit difficult to explain, but-"

"…"

"O-oh…y-you already solved them…?"

An uncomfortable pause.

"Awesome! Er, s-sorry for bothering then-!"

"Mhm." He hung up and continued walking.

He barely made it 10 feet before she called again. He answered, out of obligation.

What she said was unimportant to him; just where he already knew they were going, and frankly he hardly payed attention to her words, breaking off the conversation as soon as he reached the first elevator. Its lights blinked in a rotating red, orange, and yellow hues; the ride itself, was rickety as all hell.

At the next level, there was a tad more population, especially around a hotdog stand run by a certain skeleton. He passed through quickly, most monsters there not even noticing his ignorant behavior over their focus on their food.

Though one of course, failed to fall onboard with the rest of them, greeting the boy despite his standoffish behavior.

"Hey buddy, what's up?"

The human stopped walking.

"Wanna buy a hot dog?" the skeleton asked with a cheesy smile as he held one up in offering.

He turned his head slightly. "No. Thank you."

"It's only 30 G."

"No, that's…quite alright."

Sans shrugged, still grinning as always. "Suit yourself." He closed his eyes and took a bite of the hotdog himself.

The other winced at him before turning to continue through the hot metallic environment. Gears turned in the distance above a sweeping ground of lava. Just as the stress was lessening slightly in his mood, he got another message, amongst a previous insufferable slew of status updates from a certain lizard girl.

"Dinner with the- What? What in the hell is wrong with this woman-?"

The phone dinged with a status update from Papyrus, of equal ridiculous comedy lost to Chara. He turned the phone off, his only regret having not done so sooner. Thanks to that he got through the conveyor belt obstacle without distraction.

He passed an out-of-place microwave with melted cheese in it, then came to find that pair of guards in the next area. Ultimately, the battle with them consisted of little more than cleaning off the second one's armor and telling the first to be honest with his feelings as the other found it hard to keep said armor on.

He'd hardly continued from that room when his phone buzzed again.

 _'_ _What? I thought I turned this damn thing off.'_

He answered begrudgingly.

"…Yes?"

"Oh- h-hi, um… I…noticed you've been kinda quiet lately…"

"…Have I?"

"Y-yeah…your uh…phone was off."

"Was it _really?"_

"Y-yeah. Heh. Happens sometimes, I know, so I- um, turned it on again…from here…so I could, uh…call you… "

A long shallow sigh on his end.

"B-but, I-I'll uh- leave you alone for now, I guess-"

She hung up quickly.

After clearing another perilous and lengthy set of puzzles, he arrived at a place completely overtaken by spiderwebs. The first area within held a bake sale, selling familiar spider products at an unaffordable price.

Muffet, the human sized, daintily dressed spider girl in charge of this operation, was not in fact pleased that he had bypassed her scam. His lack of a spider pastry meant the young man was not spared a treacherous battle with Muffet's disturbingly oversized 'pet.'

 _'_ _You can't remember to do anything right, can you Frisk?'_

He received no messages from Alphys as he went through the Core. Unusual, but of little concern to him. He wouldn't be surprised if his cold tone had scared the timid thing off their backs for good.

He made his way through this place with a confidence and decidedness most unbecoming of a man who'd never set foot here before. The lights, the paths, the mechanical nature of the hallways, it all looked the same. In addition, the monsters here were of the strongest sort they'd encountered thus far; not uncommonly appearing in pairs of two, or even three.

He cleared them easily, still keeping to the other's goal of non-violence.

To the very last floor he continued like this, and there, at last, the elevator was fixed. Right next door, however, neon lights beckoned him to another room.

Frisk's consciousness wavered in the blackness that was Chara's domain. It was an uneasy, all too familiar feeling. He had no idea what was going on out there, and no way to signal or demand back control of his body. _That_ was absolutely petrifying. He'd failed himself at keeping time, and as such, any guess between 2 and 4 hours would be perfectly reasonable. A long time to sit alone in pitch black darkness, that's for sure. All he could do was remain calm and patient and trust Chara to do this properly.

Out of nowhere his consciousness was thrown back into his body.

 _'"_ _Here, you do it. I can't stand him."'_

He blinked about in confusion for a second, trying to get his bearings.

"Well hello, darling~!"

His eyes focused on the man in front of him as he took a dramatic stride forward. Lights were flaring, there was mist for dramatic effect. A lot to take in for a guy who just regained his vision.

"What do you think of my stage~? Absolutely dazzling, is it not?" He gestured widely at his surroundings. "A perfect place to showcase a little… _friendly competition~"_

He took a few steps closer.

"I heard you're a very resilient man! But are you daring enough to take on _me_ _~?"_

"Sure, why not?"

"Oho! Did you hear that, my darling viewers-?"

"Wait-! Are we on TV?!"

"But of course, silly human!"

"You didn't even know I was gonna show up!"

Mettaton grinned brightly, striking a pose. "I'm always prepared for these things! When opportunity strikes, you must grab it, my darlings~!"

His eyes fell on a spot near the ceiling, smile fading immediately. "And _you!"_

Frisk followed the other's gaze up toward the strobe lights. There was a chunky cat man up there, smoking a cigarette while he ran one of the cameras. Poor guy looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"This is a non-smoking area, _Burgerpants!"_

A low sigh. "You got it, _boss."_ he grumbled as he snuffed the cigarette out on the walkway.

"Anyway..." he turned his attention back to Frisk. "How very lucky you are, to be able to star on this, a brand new episode of my show!"

"Does your show have a name?"

"Ah-! Of course it does! They all have names! The channel, however, is simply called, the MTT Channel."

"Wow, that's so original."

"Thank you, I do like to think-" He stopped. "Wait. You're being- _sarcastic,_ aren't you?"

Frisk smirked.

"Oh. _Oh. You."_ An angry sort of grin overtook him. "You're a sassy little devil, aren't you?" He strut forward, floor tiles lighting up as his heels touched them. _"Well then!_ Let's put that sass _to the test_ , why don't we?"

With that, Frisk was faced with a fabulous crescendo of Mettaton themed attacks.

He'd frequently kick his legs at him, adorned with neon pink boots.

...Were those _spikes_ on the heels of those boots?!

Small robotic bombs fell down on parachutes and exploded near him. They were mostly for show. Mostly.

Strobe lights flared about at disorienting speeds.

Ratings skyrocketed with every eccentric pose thrown at each other.

In the end, however, Mettaton was bested by the human's stamina.

"Well, _darling."_ he panted. "I would love to continue this fabulous showdown, but I'm afraid to say, I'm…running quite low…on battery…"

He straightened himself and brushed non-visible dust from himself. "So let's call this battle a draw then, alright darling? We needn't make Alphys trek all the way up here to retrieve me, hm? Having collapsed from exertion... Tsk, my my, what an embarrassing thought." He made eye contact with Frisk. "You go right ahead, then. I'll catch up shortly."

Frisk left for the lab, the trip back to take but a tiny fraction of the time it took to get up there.

 _'_ _Time to go tell her I got the elevator fixed.'_

 _'"_ _ **I**_ _got the elevator fixed."'_ the voice corrected.

 _'_ _Right, well, I'm not about to tell her that.'_

The room was dark as he entered. Alphys was just sitting on her computer. The boy walked up casually.

"Hey Alphys, I fixed-"

"Oh my God!" She clutched her heart and spun around in surprise.

But Frisk was now fixated on her computer screen. A video of two shiny cartoon chicks. Getting something on.

"OH MY GOD!" She blushed furiously and covered the screen best she could with her thick arms and tiny hands.

 _'"_ _Ah, so this is why she's been so quiet."'_

"Whatcha...whatcha watchin' there...?" He cocked his head with a smile, trying to peer at the video. He couldn't see much, but the girly, high pitched moans were still plenty audible.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all!" Her finger frantically went for the power button, missing several times before actually hitting it.

Frisk just glanced away, still wearing that mischievous smile. The poor girl was dying from embarrassment.

"I-I'm so sorry, I was just- I was doing some r-research, y-you know how it is, search results and what have you-" She nervously pushed her glasses up on her flushed face. "S-so, you fixed the elevator!" she exclaimed, a little louder than intended. "That's great! That's super great! Now we can all move around again and whatnot!" She was off on a desperate tangent to change the subject. "But yes! I have something that needs done really fast! But I'll be back soon! So just, uh-"

"Why hellooo, darlings~!"

"Ahh, Mettaton...!" She grinned awkwardly, still flustered as ever. "Fancy you showing up-! T-too!"

The robot gasped. "Oh Alphys dear, you look a mess!"

"Ahh..." she wheezed softly.

"What were you up to? Don't tell me you were writing more of those lewd self-insert stories!"

 _"_ _Ahhh-!"_

"She was watching porn."

 ** _"_** ** _Ahhhh!"_**

Another gasp. "Alphys!"

She fell out of her chair dizzily, Mettaton wasting no time taking her spot.

"What was it about~?"

She pulled her coat over her face and lied perfectly still. "I can't. I'm dead. You guys killed me."

"Oh? Perhaps I can bring you back, dear~" He jumped down over her and pressed his lips to the fabric over hers in mock CPR.

"Ahh-! G-goddammit, let the dead woman rest!" she squeaked as she squirmed out from beneath him.

Frisk just watched the spectacle, covering his mouth to hide his amused chuckling.

"Ah, just teasing, just teasing." He smiled as he stood up and straightened up his hair. "Actually I'm going to have to step out for a bit. Blasted recharge and all that. Frisky here gave me _quite_ a workout back there." He winked playfully. "Also, knowing her, you're about to end up watching 6 hours' worth of sappy anime re-runs, so have fun with that."

"Hey!"

"See you later, darlings!"

With that he sprung onto the escalator and was out of sight within seconds.

Alphys huffed defensively at the ground. "Sappy anime re-runs. W-well just cause he said that means we're about to do the exact _opposite_ of that! Yeah! That'll show him! Th-the exact opposite of that... Which...wh-which is... Um..." Her eyes opened wide in nervous ponderment.

She looked up at Frisk, blinking several times within a second or two. "U-um..." She grinned, her face heating once more. "I... _do_ do o-other things, I swear! I just...those other things aren't quite...coming...to mind...right now..."

The girl perked up after a few seconds of silence.

"B-but hey! I-it shouldn't be about me anyway! You're the guest after all. So we'll do whatever you feel like doing." She took on that stupid grin again as she waited for a response.

Now it was Frisk's turn to be awkward; to make a conversation between two, subjectively boring, poorly socialized people, even more uncomfortable.

"You know, personally, I very much enjoy sitting in silence and contemplating the divine meaning of life."

"R-really? Me too!"

He blinked his eyes, recovering from a moment's blackout.

 _'_ _Me too what?'_

"A-actually I know a really good place for that. Back in Waterfall. By the river." She smiled. "Should we…um…go?"

 _'_ _What?'_

"Uh, sure."

And with that they were off to Waterfall, apparently. Silently sitting on the edge of a neon blue river, to the continued confusion of Frisk.

Alphys looked like she was…meditating?

Were they meditating?

 _'_ _Is that why we came here?'_

It'd be kind of embarrassing to re-ask such a question. And there was no help from a certain _someone._

He fiddled with the grass. Tossed pebbles in the river. Looked over at Alphys from time to time. She seemed lost in thought. It was practically silent until a slight clinking sounded from behind them.

"Alphys?"

Alphys jumped at the familiar voice, spinning around in an instant.

Undyne was fully dressed in her guard armor. She pulled up her helmet as she spoke again. "Alphys, hey!" She waved with a bright smile.

The lizard girl seemed to melt in her spot. "U-Undyne! H-h-hi! Wha- Where- Wh-what are you doing h-here?" She was a bumbling mess.

"Uh...working?"

"A-ah of course, obviously, ha ha!"

She grinned again. "So what are _you_ guys doing here?"

"O-oh!" She turned to Frisk as if she'd completely forgotten he was there. "We- were um-! Uh-! Um, wh-what was it we were doing again, Frisk?"

"I'm not so sure myself to be honest."

"Ahhh-!" She flashed an awkward smile at the other girl. "It was something- about- ...rivers, I think-?"

Undyne was trying her damndest to hold in her laughter. She failed, apologizing repeatedly as she was lost to it.

"Ahh I'm sorry, I'm such an idiot- I-I just need to stop talking now-" Alphys covered her face in embarrassment.

"No, no, it's cute!"

Alphys peeked over the sleeves of her coat, eyes wider than goddamn dinner plates.

She fell over into the mushy blue grass.

"Alphys?!" Undyne was quick to kneel at her side.

Frisk poked her cheek playfully. "I think you killed her."

In an instant she regained herself, jolting up with deep breath. _"Ohhmygod."_ Her eyes darted up to meet Undyne's, mouth curving into that nervous little rabbit-toothed grin. "I...just had the most- _interesting_ dream-!"

They both laughed. Undyne wrapped an arm around her playfully. They warmed up to each other quickly. Stories from Undyne, fun facts from Alphys.

They forgot he was there. He didn't mind this time. In fact, he was beyond happy; to see their interactions being restored to what he once knew.

It was a good 20 minutes before their chat eventually came to a close.

"Well, I should get goin.' I was supposed to check up on Papyrus at his post."

"O-oh yes, of course!"

"Heh, see ya later, Alphys!"

"S-see ya!" She waved eccentrically as the other departed.

"Well you two sure seemed to be having fun."

"Ah-! W-well yes! But uh, s-sorry for er- leaving you out so much-"

"I don't mind." He shrugged. "If you haven't noticed yet, I'm…not always one for conversation."

"Ha. Finally, someone who understands…"

The boy smiled. "Honestly I had fun just listening to you two go back and forth."

"Heh. W-well that's convenient. Because…I kinda…can't remember most of what we just talked about." She held her hands up. They were shaking slightly. "Ah, God, my hands are so clammy- Ha. U-usually I just sorta- like- run off information…whatever comes to mind…to, y'know. Continue the conversation." She met his eyes. "Is that weird?"

"Nah." Another smile. "At least you _have_ information to go off of. I kinda just stop talking and hope for the best."

They made small talk as they headed back, Frisk filling the girl in on some conversational bits she'd spaced out on.

They arrived in lighthearted mood. Mettaton, having finished re-charging, was there to greet them.

"Well, _hello~"_ He was posed sensually on her desk.

Alphys pinched the bridge of her nose. "Mettaton, please get off my paperwork."

He hopped down with a huff, hips swaying as he strut over to them. "I was shocked you weren't knees deep in ice cream, eyes watering as you finish off the sappy finale of one of those shows of yours. Tsk, always so set on proving me wrong, Alphys." He shook his head. "So, where _did_ you two head off to?"

"Oh, w-we just went and sat by the Waterfall rivers. It was nice. Quiet. …Also Undyne showed up." She said that last part quickly.

Mettaton bit his lip teasingly.

"Wh-what?"

"Oh, you know _what~"_

"Stop it-!"

 _"_ _River romance~?"_

"I-it's not like that-!"

"Not yet at least~"

 _"_ _Ahh-!"_ She frowned, hiding her face in her lab coat again.

"Tsk, to be serious though, when _are_ you going to tell her, darling?"

"Mmm-! I-I-I- don't know-! N-never, p-probably...knowing me and all..."

"Oh Alphys, chin up! There's confidence to be found in you yet!"

"Doubt it..." she mumbled through her clothing.

"Tsk, don't be such a downer, dear. Nobody likes a downer."

She kicked at the floor with an adorable grumble of protest.

He lightly grabbed her cheeks and pulled her from her hiding place. " _Anyway…_ Do tell me more about your little... _rendezvous-"_

 _"_ _Mmh-!"_ She slapped his hands away with light, non-threatening little swats.

Mettaton just broke into a fit of laughter. "Oh, I'm sorry, darling, it's just too much fun to get you going like this!"

He turned his attention to Frisk. "Actually, I'd quite like to know what you think of our little knight in shining armor, Frisk." He smiled with a finger to his chin.

Frisk raised a brow and stared off in thought. "Well. She did try to kill me. Several times. Chased me down like a damned tiger."

Mettaton laughed. Alphys bit her lip.

"But she's a cool...uh...fish lady. I like her."

The robot smiled, reminiscing something.

"Yes, the two of us didn't exactly see eye to eye either at first. She has that effect with a lot of people, frankly." he murmured. "Met her at her house once, with Alphys. She had this...beautiful grand piano. And she was not a fan of my seductive performance on said piano."

"M-Mettaton, he really doesn't need to hear about-" She stopped with a slight cringe.

Mettaton smirked. "Well. To cut things short. I don't play piano." He winked.

Alphys facepalmed.

A brief interlude of robotic chuckles.

"So, when are you going to show him your anime collection?"

"Eh-?!"

"I know you're dying to."

"Y-you don't know-"

"I can read you like a book, darling."

She looked up at Frisk, an insecure air about her. "Eh... Did you want to...maybe...watch some…anime?"

Her collection was a magnificent compilation of colorful DVDs that took up the entirety of one of her bookshelves. She shuffled through the boxes excitedly, rambling about different plot types as she went. Though, the two fellows would fail to notice the careful consideration she applied to each possibility.

The search for an episode arc; one that was funny, not too lewd or weird. Episodes that were interesting without spoiling anything important from those prior. And most crucially, something that would cause minimal judgement to her if faced with an adverse reaction.

It was something only her fellow anime fans might understand.

As she was working on this, Mettaton was sitting legs crossed on the sofa with Frisk, showing him his favorite highlight moments from his own shows. Frisk acted more interested than he actually was.

He heard a robotic sigh next to him.

"Alphys, you've been at it for half an hour, please just _pick something._ Dear, you act like this is the biggest decision you've ever made!"

"But it is!" she exclaimed, fanning four DVDs in each hand. "The decision I make tonight will shape Frisk's first impression of anime, _forever._ I can not just _pick one,_ Mettaton!"

"Hey, I'm just being nice here, I really don't give a shit what you watch." the human stated indifferently.

Her arms fell. "Oh." She finally held up a single box. "Th-this one's probably ok then!"

Mettaton peeked at it as she brought it over.

"Oh? I thought for sure you'd go for that Mew Mew one."

"Shush!" she huffed as she put it in. "He'll probably like this more."

As it began to play, she grabbed the remote and took a spot between the two of them.

This particular show seemed to feature a cast of mostly women, with strange names and attire, who wielded magic weapons and were on some quest that apparently spanned several DVD seasons.

The language was foreign to him; English subtitles being the only thing to give him detailed indication of what was going on. He wasn't a fan of reading that fast while also trying to pay attention to what was happening onscreen. So they lost him at that.

He just watched the animation.

It interested him for obvious reasons. The one collective reason any average, straight leaning young fellow would be interested in watching scantily clad woman battle each other.

Though the boy began to doze off during a lengthy, less exciting scene. He zoned in and out. He heard the sound and voices in the background; and at some point a quiet side conversation between Mettaton and Alphys. His brain wasn't comprehending the words spoken. It did however, register that Alphys sounded flustered again. But what else was new?

Frisk sat up again some time later, passively watching the show until the credits began to roll.

He looked over at Alphys.

"...Where's Mettaton?"

"Oh- He...left. Heh." She pressed her hands together as she spoke. "B-beauty sleep and all that..."

Frisk glanced at the little clock on the DVD player. "Wow, he wasn't kidding when he said six hours."

"D-did you like it though?"

He nodded. "It was pretty cool."

"I…have some other stuff I can show you. If you want. M-maybe get a late night snack too."

"Yeah, ok."

He got up after her and followed downstairs.

She then proceeded to cook them up some instant noodles, rambling on about the origins of noodles the entire time.

They made their way to her desk, dinner in hand. She sat down and opened up a game on the computer.

Mew Mew Kissy Cutie Dating Sim.

She smiled nervously up at Frisk. It was always so hard to gauge that guy's reactions to her stuff.

"S-so, um…the premise of this game is…" She rubbed the back of her neck. "H-honestly there isn't much premise. You just sorta run around and like…date girls…"

"Not opposed to that premise."

"H-heh! Well then…" She opened up the menu, selecting the first save slot. There was an obscenely large amount of points in her score sections. "You start off at this menu, a-and this is the map, so you can choose where you want to go. This is how you see who's available, and you get options for what you want to say to them."

"So this is based off the show?"

"Yeah, i-it's a side game, so like, it doesn't actually spoil anything from the anime."

She had a choice of 3 girls to take on a beach date. Heart points were shown below waist up portraits of each one. There was a smirking muscular one on the far left. The score under her was about ten times higher than either of the other two. A clear favorite. She selected that one.

Alphys showed him the basic mechanics of the game; a tutorial that lasted about ten minutes, before she went back to the main menu to let him start a game of his own.

"S-so you can take the third save slot right here." Her claw lightly tapped the screen as she moved from the chair."

Frisk started a game, stifling a snort of laughter at the sparkly, dramatically girly intro.

This game, to him, was more amusing than anything. A lot of funny overreactions. He'd click a blatantly wrong thing to say, and the anime girl would get all flustered and start stammering in another language. He wound up constantly clicking answers that were way too forward, just because he _had_ to know what would come of such ridiculousness.

Needless to say, he ended with some very low scores and purposely failed dates before Alphys finally stepped in.

"Um, I know it's fun to play through all the options, b-but if you...appeal to her romantic side...you might get a...s-surprise."

He raised a brow at her, but tried it on the next one. There were never more than three dialogue options, and the direction they'd lead were usually _very_ easy to differentiate.

Frisk hummed to himself as he clicked through to another end scene.

"Hm. Oh. _Oh."_

Text popped up that read _'Nami_Photo_1 Unlocked!'_ under a detailed, scandalous drawing of the girl he'd just romanced.

"Oh- Wow- Well that's something-"

She snickered as his click speed rapidly increased.

He had a collection to complete.

"A-are you trying to get all of them, Frisk?" she asked with a laugh.

"Yes."

"Heh, that's…th-that's practically impossible to do in one sitting…"

He seemed to ignore her; eagerly going about his mission. Still, Alphys had no problem just watching, making jokes and little comments throughout. It was fun for her, to see his reactions each time he unlocked a new picture.

It only took about an hour before every spot in his gallery was filled with delightfully lewd artwork.

"…Well I'll be damned."

He eyed her smugly. "Well, that was fun."

"Mm. To be fair though, you didn't exactly _read_ most of it…"

He shrugged. "I'm a visual man."

"Want me to show you the...secret endings...?"

His eyes lit up. Awkward pervy smiles were exchanged. Thirty more minutes of their lives went into playing that game.

Alphys was clicking through her gallery, explaining some of the characters' backstories and personality traits as she went.

"Hey, the one on here." Frisk pointed to the muscular girl; a warrior in training, Alphys had mentioned. "Uh...Kal..."

"Kaline?"

"Yeah." He smirked. "She reminds you of someone, doesn't she?"

Alphys perked up. "Well..." She looked away, tugging her collar slightly from her heating neck. "Y-yeah. Heh." Her eyes met his again. "It's...really obvious, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Ha..."

He leaned back in the chair. "Why don't you tell her?"

Her expression turned glum. It took a moment for her to answer.

"...It's...complicated."

"How so...?"

"...Heh." A slight laugh. "It's...it's actually just really s-stupid... I mean..." She twiddled her fingers. "It's just me... I'm...I'm a c-...n-not er...brave...enough...to ever, _ever_ do something like that..."

The frown that suddenly overtook her caught him by surprise.

"A-and I know what you're going to say-! 'Oh, you just have to go for it, Alphys! How will you know if you don't try? Throw caution to the wind! Be confident! Courageous! Take a chance!' W-well that's-! That's..." Her expression softened. "Th-that's a lot easier said than done..."

Frisk chuckled. "Or...you can just wait for her to come to you."

 _"_ _Exactly!"_ Her shout was accompanied by a massive gesture towards Frisk. She covered her mouth immediately after. "I-I mean, that's... _very_ wishful thinking... Hah...great thoughts, nonetheless..."

A short silence.

"Say, uh...while we're on this topic..."

Alphys stared at the floor, fiddling with her hands again.

"H-hey, Frisk, can I ask you something...p-personal...?"

Frisk shrugged. "Sure."

"Ha- um, I- Oh God this is so embarrassing..." she mumbled nervously. After a few seconds of uncertainty she continued. "Frisk, h-have you ever...erm...m-made love to anyone?" she finished quickly, hiding her face.

Frisk froze.

 _'_ _Well that's out of the blue…'_

"Uh...y-yeah." he answered hesitantly. "Once."

"O-oh my." Her voice was only slightly above a whisper. "W-was it- did it...f-feel good?"

Frisk was silent.

"I-I'm sorry, that was wrong of me to pry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to-" she broke out in a ramble.

"No, it felt...great..." he lied with a fake smile.

Alphys glanced off, a bashful, dreamy expression on her face. "I can only imagine..." she mused. "Being like th-that...with someone you care...so much about... To feel so connected to another person... I-it's really special, isn't it?"

"Yeah... _special..."_ he murmured, looking away.

At this point she was too lost in her girlish fantasies to notice his odd behavior. She started rambling again. About something. He heard a few references to Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. He was only half-listening by now.

A strange part of him envied her.

Envied the fact that she could be so enthused over being with someone else, in any sense of the word.

That she can have this pretty little fantasy; romantic, sexual, yet still innocent at its essence...

To love someone so deeply...and have them feel the same.

It was a concept almost foreign to him, his perception of it muddied even further after his time with Chara, yet still some inherent part of him desired it.

Eventually Alphys turned back to the game she had abandoned.

"Ah, well, I think that's about enough of this for one night." She saved her file and shut down the computer. "I'm gonna head to bed.

He just blinked at her.

"O-oh! Right! You need a place to sleep t-too! Of course!" She laughed weirdly. "U-um!" She turned in her chair and shuffled through a couple of desk drawers.

She pulled out a small silver key with a golden Mettaton keychain attached to it.

"You can stay in this room. A-at the hotel up there. It's the one at the very end of the hall. You can't miss it."

"Huh. I thought they didn't have room keys."

"Mettaton keeps a room key. F-for himself. When he wants to stay in his own hotel…"

She dropped it in his hand.

"D-don't lose it." Her voice lowered to a whisper. "It's the only one."

"Alright. Guess I'll…see you tomorrow then?"

The girl nodded as he made his way to the exit.

"Goodnight, Frisk."

"Goodnight."

With that, he left the lab and took the elevator back to the hotel.

He was settled in his room in no time. Though for some reason, unlike Alphys, he wasn't exactly tired.

The room was very luxurious. Soft gold tiling on the floor. King sized bed with red covers; a single pillow in the center making it appear even bigger. The lamps on either side were decorated with gold highlights and emitted a warm glow.

The bed was amazingly comfortable.

He got situated in the very center and closed his eyes as his mind passively reminisced the events that had played out throughout the day. And plenty had, however, after a general overview of these memories, his focus tended to fall more heavily on Mettaton and anime; and the suggestive undertones to these things gradually transferred his mind to a sexual state.

 _Anime chicks._

 _Sexy poses._

 _Cleverly hidden cleavage._

 _Legs._

 _Tits._

 _Skin._

 _Soft milky skin._

 _Contact._

 _Kissing._

 _Sex-_

A flashback halted him for only a moment before it began to morph to his liking. He immediately stopped himself.

 _'_ _What...'_

Did he just... He refused to acknowledge it.

That he just fantasized, even for a moment, about him.

About doing _something,_ granted it was fuzzy... But there was no denying it was Chara.

…

…

Well…

…

He wasn't exactly bad looking.

…

It would make sense that-

He frowned.

 _'_ _Why am I thinking about this? What the hell?'_

…

Thoughts crept sneakily into the back of his mind. Just a moment's gap of weakness and his body abandoned its will to fight this.

His heart was pounding as he let his hand trail casually down his thigh to his groin. Very slowly, he started rubbing himself through his pants.

He froze.

 _'_ _What the hell am I doing? This...there is nothing right about this…'_

He threw his head back against the pillow with a conflicted grunt.

 _He was a male._

 _A young male with urges._

 _He needed this._

 _Doesn't matter so much the fantasy, at this point he just needed the release._

 _ **[[[[[Masturbation scene omitted to keep this postable.]]]]]**_

 _Chara did this... He wasn't even here... Yet his voice alone was enough to make him have one of the most intense orgasms of his life…_

His body trembled slightly, the realization of what he just did clearly disturbing him.

 _'"_ _Well then...I'll just leave you to yourself."'_

He sat there frozen.

He couldn't believe he just did that.

He just... _masturbated_...to _him_...

Frisk stared down at his dirtied hand, breathing shakily.

He needed a tissue. No. He needed a _shower._

Frisk slid off the bed with a long sigh before heading off to the bathroom. He turned on the sink and began feverishly scrubbing the sin from his hands. When finished, he turned on the shower and started undressing himself.

Despite feeling heavenly not five minutes ago, his current lack of arousal caused his entire being to feel numb. Numb and just...disgusting.

He glanced briefly at his reflection in the mirror, before snapping his head away. He could hardly stand to look at himself right now.

He stepped into the shower, hoping the warm water washing over him would alleviate this terrible feeling. Not a minute in, his weight fell against the shower wall.

Chara's words echoed in the back of his mind, taunting him even as he was not present.

 _'_ _Come now, Frisk. There's no denying it. You fantasized about fucking around with me and got aroused. Be a man and own up to it.'_

There was a heavy weight in his chest. His eyes seemed to be locked open.

He did that willingly. _Desperately..._

In those few intense minutes he managed to shatter multitudes of ideas and self-concepts he'd felt so sure about.

His emotional consciousness seemed non-present as he slid down onto that shower floor.

The blanket of water that shot down on him eventually chilled.

He didn't notice.

His mind was empty.

There was no conflict; no back and forth between two polarized halves of himself; no blaming, guilting, or rationalizing.

There were no thoughts.

Just cold, straight, realization.


	11. Chapter 11

A brisk chill swept continuously over Frisk's exposed skin from the air's constant circulation. The chip chop of the overhead fan lulled him to a less unpleasant state. He stared at it from his place in the bed; damp, naked, and utterly drained.

The moisture that bled into the sheets had long since warmed under his body heat, while the outermost edges cooled, creating an opposite, uncomfortable effect. Despite this, he refused to leave the coverage of the bedding.

Perhaps he was being dramatic, but it really was the only thing making him feel secure at the moment. And the only thing maintaining his sense of modesty, as he had washed and hung up his clothes earlier; after he'd managed to pull himself from the freezing shower.

 _ _Just waiting for those to dry__ , he'd tell himself.

Throughout the night he'd fallen in and out of sleep, barely. He didn't even bother to turn off the lights.

The movement of the fan's blades mimicked that of a fast ticking clock. He'd stare at it 'til his eyes burned and reminded him to blink. Yes, he was aware he wasn't making himself look good doing this; but when it came to stress, he never did.

A sudden shot of goosebumps pricked his skin, even under the covers. He pulled the comforter to his chin, legs withdrawing closer to his body.

It was only a few seconds before the inside of his ears rang with a tune of bored little hums. It was followed by a long sigh, as his body locked in tension.

 _'"_ _ _Did I really break you that easily, puppet?"'__

Frisk glared upward in disgust.

"Don't call me that." His voice came out cracked and raw as he first spoke. "I'm not in the mood for your sick humor."

A slight scoff.

 _'"_ _ _Oh, of course not."'__

A pause.

 _'"_ _ _You know it's always so up and down with you. I can't tell if you're genuinely unhappy or if you just like throwing pity parties for yourself."'__

He straightened his back, still holding the covers to his face, eyes boring into the ceiling.

 _'"_ _ _Ah, ah! And I know that look. That's the look that says you're about to blame me for something."'__

Frisk sighed, averting his eyes. "No… I'm not… _ _blaming__ you."

 _'"_ _ _Well, that's new."'__

"And I don't __like__ feeling like shit. I just…"

 _'"_ _ _You're just terrible at dealing with complex emotions, you poor, simple-minded little thing."'__

He took a deep breath, trying to maintain the composure in his voice. "…It was a crappy lapse of judgment on my part."

 _'"_ _ _One of many."'__

He winced again, turning onto his side. "Whatever. It was a moment of weakness. It won't happen again."

A sudden burst of laughter triggered his nerves.

 _'_ _ _What's so funny?'__

 _'"_ _ _No offense, Frisk, but you don't exactly have the strongest willpower to resist temptation."'__

His brain pulsed with anger, but there was little he could say to rebuke that.

His body shied further into the covers. He stared over at the lamp for a minute or two, before his gaze darted momentarily to the ceiling, then off somewhere else again.

Frisk lied there for a while. Chara said nothing. The air felt even heavier than before.

The thought of his mission crossed his mind. Asgore, and the pinnacle battle that would immediately follow. Though his plan had been to continue after his stay here, he quickly came to the conclusion he was not in the right mindset for that. Not with all this… _ _bullshit__ swarming around in his head.

While the disgruntled part of him was all for staying here all day and sulking over nothing, he did will himself out of bed in the end. __The awkwardness was its worst when he felt he was under silent observation.__

Frisk exhaled quietly as he sat up turned to the bed's edge. His body froze just before he uncovered himself.

He glanced upward.

"Can I get some privacy for a minute?"

Chara sighed dismissively.

…

"I swear I can feel you staring at me."

…

 _'"_ _ _You're not wrong."'__

…

"Please?"

There was no reply. However, he did feel some ease of tension. Whether imagined or not, he decided to take this opportunity to gather himself. He slid out of bed, cool air blowing over the entirety of his body as he made his way to the bathroom.

His clothing, hanging from the top of the shower, was wearable, if still a little damp. He smoothed the shirt over his torso. The subtle dampness chilled every part of his covered skin, leaving him with a rigid sort of shiver.

 _'"_ _ _Better?"'__

"A little."

He stared at his reflection blankly, brain igniting no emotion to it. As Frisk exited the bathroom, his body felt itself gravitating back toward the warmth of the bed.

 _'"_ _ _Hey idiot, forget where you are? Just go outside."'__

"...Oh. Right."

He made for a brisk walk to the hotel's exit. The heat this time was welcome, the high temperatures warming and drying his clothing in mere minutes.

The lab was right down the way… Alphys. Her company could provide a decent enough distraction from all this. And he had implied he'd drop in again...

Frisk took the elevator down to the bottom floor and made his way to the steel building. He gave a few resounding knocks to the locked entryway. The doors slid open a minute later, the lizard girl beaming upon seeing her visitor.

"Oh, h-hey, Frisk! I was hoping you'd stop by!" She smiled politely, adjusting her glasses. "Mettaton's off filming a cooking show right now. So I'm kinda just...chillin' by myself, you know how it goes." She laughed to herself, pulling the doors further open. "Wanna, uh...chill with me?"

He gave an enthused nod, smile a bit wider than it usually was as he followed her in.

"Do you want anything? I just made some coffee…"

"That sounds nice."

"O-ok." The girl proceeded to pour them both a cup, handing his off without a word. The silence lingered for a minute or so before she finally found something to say.

"So I ran into Undyne this morning." She turned the cup about in her hands. "A-and __I__ was actually the one who called out to __her__ this time! Heh!"

Frisk chuckled a second with her, before taking a sip of his own drink. Alphys sighed softly.

"She said she'd like to get together with me sometime, if I wasn't busy."

"Oh?"

She held a trembling claw to her face. "B-but I kinda fucked up."

Frisk blinked at her. "Why, what happened?"

"I…" She tapped her claws repetitively against the mug. "I told her I had a lot of work to do." A dry laugh. "And…as you can see…th-that was a lie." She hunched her shoulders, arms shaking a bit as her eyes appeared significantly glossier. "I-I'm such an idiot…"

"No…you're not." For a moment he considered patting her shoulder, or something, but shied from that idea. He took another sip of his coffee. "I would have done the same thing, probably."

She let out a brief laugh followed by a soft sniff, wiping her eyes quickly on her sleeve.

"I didn't know what to say. I-it was so sudden. So out of the blue. I…just responded with the first thing that came to mind." A heavy sigh. "And now I'm paranoid she might think I don't __want__ to hang out with her, o-or something."

Frisk waved a dismissive hand at her. "Nah, trust me, she wouldn't think that."

"Y-you don't think?"

He shook his head. "She knows you're shy. It obviously doesn't bug her. Probably just wants you to be comfortable."

Alphys gave a quick nod. "Y-you're right. I mean, she did say it was 'cool' and- maybe next time- s-something like that." Claws tapped the ceramic thoughtfully. "Sh-she didn't seem upset, at least."

"Well there you go then." He gestured toward her with another kind smile.

"Thank you, Frisk." Alphys returned the smile while awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. "I feel like I can really open up to you about these things. You never, y'know, berate me for it- I-I mean, berate isn't exactly the right word, that's- a little too harsh- B-but you know what I'm saying. You don't make me feel…weird about it." A quick sip of coffee. "You don't push me."

The boy closed his eyes with a nod. "I've had my fair share of being pushed…" He too took a long sip of his drink.

They stood in silence for a short while. Eventually Alphys set her mug on the desk, attention falling back on Frisk. Her thumbs twiddled nervously as she spoke.

"So. Wh…what exactly did you feel like doing?"

He shrugged. "Anything. What were you up to before I got here?"

Her glances shifted between Frisk and the floor. "W-well… I was actually working on some blueprints. For a little broadcasting machine. I-it's nothing really. B-but I did kinda want to get a second opinion..."

After agreeing to take a look at her new project, Frisk had followed her around to the computer, where she proceeded to pull up several files of complex schematics. She explained them as if she were talking about the weather. She overestimated his comprehension of this. It was all lost unto him.

She would probe for input. Did he think it looked functional? Practical? Would one thingamajig override the ratio of the other thingamajig?

Hell if he knew.

Not wanting to come off as rude, or admit that he hadn't the slightest clue what she was talking about, he just nodded and agreed with everything she said.

She was smart. Her work was more impressive than she'd give herself credit for. She didn't need scientific verification; just a little confidence.

They carried on in a normal way for quite a while. Though, eventually, Frisk's mind began to drift; and of course, it drifted right back to the place he'd hoped to escape by coming here.

Alphys' voice faded under the growing onslaught of flashbacks.

Bits and pieces of the prior night; much of it recalled in disturbing detail. They nipped relentlessly at his mind, causing that familiar, obsessive cycle.

Before he knew it, he was breaking out in an anxious sweat. Sinking drops and pulses in his stomach struck him every time his wandering thoughts found a particularly vivid memory.

His fingers tapped the desk repetitively.

His heart was pounding, pumping adrenaline through his system in a strange and shameful way; as if he were keeping a secret. His neck prickled with goosebumps; a condition that worsened the longer he paid heed to these thoughts.

It eventually triggered an involuntary jitter throughout his limbs.

Alphys stopped talking.

"E-everything ok, Frisk?" she asked with concern.

He nodded quickly, his response coming out with a tense breathlessness. "Yeah."

She gasped suddenly. "Ah! Sh-shit, do you have a caffeine intolerance, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't think to ask-!"

"No, no, it's just…"

He stopped. She blinked at him expectantly.

"It's nothing."

Her eyes darted across him a few more moments. Hesitantly, she picked up on her prior explanation. Her heart didn't seem fully into it anymore. She'd frequently stop to check back on the other; and wound up bringing her presentation to an early close.

"S-so, that's it. In a nutshell…"

Frisk nodded, an apologetic air about him. "It's really cool. I think you have a really good idea there."

She bit her lip a second. "Thank you."

He scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry if I didn't comprehend a lot of it, though."

Alphys shook her head. "No, I-I'm sorry. I know it's weird and science-y, and I…probably went more in-depth than I needed to…" She held her arm with a slight chuckle.

"Heh."

…

"Oh!" She perked up suddenly. "On a different note, guess what I found in the junkyard earlier!" She whipped open her desk drawer, pulling out a frilly-looking comic book. The words and title were all in that strange, blocky language. Her claws gingerly but excitedly flipped through it. "The art is so fantastic, I have to show you the one-"

Frisk leaned over her shoulder. "…Can you even read that?"

The girl smiled awkwardly. "No. But you know what they say! A picture speaks a thousand words!" She held the book toward him, the page she'd turned to being a full illustration of a passionate kiss scene.

He took the book, peering at the page. "Oh wow. It is really good." He flipped through as well, taking in the artwork while trying to dissect the story. "So any idea what it's about?"

Alphys tapped her claws together. "Well…it's not too hard to deduce it's a romance. Lots of tension. There's a sort of…up and down, back and forth feel with the characters." She gestured as she explained. "Like, they're not so sure how they feel about each other."

His gaze was cast onto a series of panels depicting the couple arguing; then making out the very next page.

"…So how's it end?" he asked, skimming through a bit faster.

Alphys frowned. "I don't know." She pointed at the book. "It's waterlogged at the end."

He continued and, sure enough, the further in he got, the more distorted the artwork became. The final 30 pages or so were just dark smears; completely destroyed by water damage.

The girl sighed as he peered at those last few pages. "It kills me not knowing if they fell for each other or not…but…the strange mystery of it all…that in itself is kinda romantic, I think." she finished with a warm smile.

"…Yeah." He closed the book, passing it back to her.

"Y-you know I did have a funny idea." Her hands rotated the book curiously. "Since the pages are more of, uh, a grey…it __would__ be possible to…to draw on them…" She chuckled softly. "I could technically make up my own ending for this story… B-but I'm not the best artist, so…I dunno…"

Frisk watched as she situated the comic back in the drawer. Nerdy as some of her activities were to him, he couldn't deny that she seemed to know what she was talking about when it came to _…_ _ _this.__

Something was nagging at him.

It was stupid.

Completely ridiculous.

But it poked and lingered 'til he finally brought himself to take it into words.

…

"Hey, Alphys?"

She turned around in her chair. "Y-yeah?"

"You asked me a question yesterday... Now I've got one for you."

She cocked her head curiously.

…

His throat felt dry. His eyes refused to make contact. Plagued by hesitance, he swallowed hard with a choppy exhale before he could even say it.

…

"How do you know you... _ _like someone?"__

"O-oh my!" A giddy smile spread across her face. "Do you like someone, Frisk?"

His body tensed. "I honestly have no idea..."

"W-well, does she make you happy?"

"He."

Frisk grimaced as her smile grew even wider. She inhaled excitedly with a slight, girlish squeal. He was starting to regret asking this question at all.

 _"_ _ _Oh my..."__ she cooed.

She was looking at him...with this __look...__ He didn't even know how to describe it; it was weird. __She was weird.__

He glanced away, feeling embarrassment stir in his chest; anger stinging immediately after.

 _ _He didn't have to put up with this.__

"Nevermind." he muttered, turning to leave.

"H-hey! W-wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean-!"

She stood quickly and grabbed his shoulder. The boy turned to her with that neutral expression he wore oh-so-frequently.

"I-I'm really sorry, I didn't mean anything- I-" A slight pause as she released her hold on his arm. "...I just think it's really cute..." she finished, glancing at the floor with a smile.

Frisk cringed, visibly. "It's fine. It's just…" He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I…Christ, I dunno, I'm just..." He clutched his hands together. "You…seem to know a lot about…this kinda thing."

Alphys snorted. "Pft! What? No! Me?" She tossed her arms dismissively.

He shifted in his spot, voice quieting significantly. "It's not exactly a natural feeling for me... And I'm not usually one to go digging for help for personal stuff. But, I mean...here I am. So it's obviously a problem."

"No, no, i-it's not a problem, Frisk!" She sent a sympathetic smile.

"…No offense, but...you really don't know the half of it."

Alphys nodded after a few seconds. "T-true." She perked up. "B-but I think I might know how to help! The second season of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie really builds on the development of r-romantic feelings within a friendship- I-I mean- That is- I-I know it's not really your thing, b-but if you wanna watch-"

He cringed a little on the inside; the hyper-feminine anime not being something he had much interest in. But, he really had nothing to lose. Might take his mind off everything for a bit.

"Ok." he agreed with an indifferent shrug.

"E-eh wha? Y-you really wanna watch it?" She seemed surprised by this, her elated fangirlish behavior quickly following. "O-oh wow, that's great! I think you'll really like it, it has a lot of elements involving trust and bonding and friendship and feelings building over time, and one of the main characters, she feels confused at first, cause she likes this other girl, who has been her best friend since middle school, this is all in the middle of season two, episodes 21-37 if I'm not mistaken. It's been a long time since I saw season 2, since I have all 9 seasons, plus the dating game, and the movie; not the second movie though, they totally ruined it with the second one. It's seriously terrible, oh my God. Anyway, not to spoil it too much, but she admits her true feelings, it's hard and she thinks she ruined everything, but she finds out her friend felt the same, and they share their first kiss and start going out and everything works out just fine. ...Oh shoot. I kinda just spoiled it, didn't I? B-but it's really good, a-and that's just like a s-summary; there's a lot more that goes...into...the, u-uh...buildup...to it..." she trailed off as she noticed the totally lost expression on Frisk's face. "Y-you should definitely g-give it a watch sometime though..."

A short pause.

"R-right now if you want. I'll make popcorn. I-it'll be really fun...I think..." she murmured shyly.

He nodded again, demeanor still a bit distant. "Sure, why not?"

With that, the girl went skipping off to the escalator, a giant smile plastered on her face. "Great, I-I'll go set it up! J-just hang on a minute!"

As she scurried off, Frisk found himself standing alone at the desk; and in his loneliness, a familiar presence quickly surfaced again, its voice teeming with amusement.

 _'"_ _ _So now you like me?"'__

 _'_ _ _No.'__

 _'"_ _ _That's precious."'__ Chara remarked, completely disregarding him.

His eyes blinked frantically for a few moments, body walking off on its own.

 _ _Where's Alphys?__

The boy nearly tripped on the escalator as he rushed to catch a ride up. He found her by the TV, fiddling with the DVD player.

"Ah, there we go!" She stepped away with a victorious gesture as a neon-colored intro began playing. "Alright, we're all set." She made for the couch, where a large bowl of popcorn sat in the center.

They took their seats, and Alphys held a starry-eyed expression as she went about explaining the entire premise of the series to him.

It featured a cast of all women; most, if not all, seemed to be lesbians. Everything about the show was extremely feminine, from the art style, to the story, to the behaviors and personalities of nearly every character. It was unrealistic, and mostly just…cheesy. Girl meets girl, awkwardness, petty jealousy, dramatized confessions, plot twists he could have seen coming a mile away.

He glanced over at Alphys as the current episode closed with a melodramatic cliffhanger.

She was crying.

This cheesy, predictable ending was making her cry.

Clearly she was very emotionally invested in these characters…

"Why Leila, why?!" Alphys threw her arms forward, voice a blabbering mess. "She loves you! You can't just transfer schools! Open your eyes! Open your __heart!"__ As the credits rolled, she wiped her face on her sleeve. _"_ _ _God I love this fucking show."__

She froze up upon seeing the concerned look Frisk was shooting her.

"S-sorry, got a bit carried away there." She laughed a second before her smile fell to stone-cold seriousness. "We are so watching the rest of this."

He didn't dare object to that.

And so it continued. About two more hours of this; Alphys twice the mess she was by the time the season itself ended. It left her curled up in an emotional ball, spewing constant dialogue at…her TV's blank screen at this point. She gathered herself eventually.

 _ _Eventually.__

Sniffling continued to linger throughout her words. "S-so what did you think, Frisk?"

He forced a smile. "It was…good."

 _"_ _ _I know right?!"__ Her face scrunched and she waved her arms wildly.

 _ _Oh great, he made her cry some more.__

She went off on another lengthily rant about the characters' relationship. It took a minute for her to come down from that…

"Ah…" The girl sniffled again, wiping her tears on her coat. "Ah, s-sorry, I…kinda forgot to check in with you…" She folded her hands and turned to him. "D-did the show help at all? W-with clearing up confusion and such?"

"Eh..." He shrugged, leaning back into the sofa a bit more. "It's not exactly, y'know...relatable."

"O-oh." She held her shoulder. "Yeah. I-I'm sorry. I guess yours would be different, all things considered." A small shrug. "Sadly not much of it has fallen down here, so, I-I mean, I know most about it from...um...erotic art media."

Frisk blinked quizzically at her. "...What?"

"Um- Heh-" Alphys smiled nervously, scooching off the couch. "Here, I'll just sh-show you."

They soon found themselves at the computer once more.

"Ok, here we go."

Alphys tapped away on the keys; entering in a simple one-word search.

"I know there's tons more out there, but the signal's terrible down here. I can only pick up a few picture sites…"

She clicked through a very simplified page of search results; skimming the website links and eventually falling on one with a satisfied hum.

"Th-this is a good one though."

She pulled up the main page, shying away from it as the images loaded. "Y-you can take the mouse, Frisk." she offered quietly.

The girl moved from the chair, allowing the other to sit. Taking the mouse, he curiously began navigating the site.

It didn't take long for him to notice a __theme__ as he opened the gallery.

The entire website was, more or less, a vast collection dedicated exclusively to semi-realistic, cartoon drawings of gay couples.

Frisk glanced between the screen and Alphys.

She just wore that awkward grin, completely oblivious to his lack of… _ _interest.__ Though, since she'd gone out of her way to show him, he clicked through it anyway, to be polite. He'd admit, some of the art __was__ rather good, if a bit strange.

The images' subjects were primarily young men, probably late teens to mid-twenties, with ideal, perfectly groomed bodies. They all had longer than average hair, usually jagged and messy; with some __really__ weird colors for their overly shiny locks and eyes. He soon found it wasn't only couples; some were solo works, others consisted of up to five people.

The majority were not explicit, maybe 1 in every 50 actually showing genitals. The artwork seemed to carry a habit of cropping the sexual pictures to the waist up, adding black or white censor bars, or cleverly placing something right in front of their lower parts as a more creative way of hiding it.

Most of the drawings were actually fairly innocent, consisting of more romantic things; kissing, cuddling, different kinds of cutesy teasing. It was oddly glamorous, many portrayed in very passionate, dramatic positions...

 _ _Mettaton probably shared in this interest with Alphys... Seemed like something they'd both like.__

"U-um-"

He jumped slightly at the sound of her voice.

"Wh...what's he look like? I-if you don't mind my asking..."

"Uh..."

Frisk turned his attention back to the screen uncomfortably. With a weird twist in his stomach, he skimmed through the eccentric characters, trying to find one that even remotely resembled Chara.

He finally stopped on one.

"He looks kinda like this." he mumbled.

Alphys eagerly peered at the screen.

It was one man, a portrait of sorts. The hair was different from Chara's; though about the same length, it was much darker, a near black auburn, and unnaturally spikey. His skin was the palest white. Excessive black eye makeup gave him a dark, brooding appearance. The eyes were bright red, a frighteningly close match. This character in particular seemed to be a vampire of some sort; sharp little fangs showing through a mischievous smirk. He was licking blood off his fingers seductively, as those eyes bore into the viewer's soul.

"O-oh wow." The girl commented with a bashful smile, leaning closer to the image. She eyed Frisk curiously. "Does he actually have red eyes?"

"Yeah, he does."

"Wow..." She stared at the picture with an air of awe. "You're really lucky Frisk..." she said with a giggle.

 _'_ _ _Sure I am…'__

"Heh. He's not actually this attractive though."

 _'"_ _ _Fuck you, Frisk."'__

Alphys let out a brief awkward laugh before taking a few steps away. "H-hang on a second, I have to go to the bathroom. Feel free to keep looking at stuff, I'll be right back!"

…

Frisk didn't bother scrolling through anything new. He stayed on that same picture; tapped his fingers on the desk as he stared into those dark, crimson eyes.

…It really did look like him.

He let out a long exhale, attention shifting to the random junk adorning the scientist's desk. There was a pencil with a neon-colored cat eraser; he twirled it between his fingers absentmindedly.

It flew from his hand at the sudden sound of banging at the front doors. He looked between them and the bathroom. Assuming the other would be awhile, he took the liberty of answering for her after about seven more knocks.

There was a button to open them. An ironclad fist nearly bashed his face in as they did.

The two yelped simultaneously, the visitor's hand stopping just short of his face before quickly retracting behind its owner's back.

"Oh. Heya." Undyne waved at him casually. She was dressed in full guard armor, minus the helmet, which she held in her other arm.

"Hey." he replied under a relieved sigh.

…

She eyed him a bit suspiciously, a forced grin only half-covering that up.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just…hanging out with Alphys."

 _"_ _ _Uh-huh."__ She craned her neck a little, eye scanning the space behind him.

"…Do you wanna come in?" he asked indifferently, stepping aside.

"Nah, I just wanna talk to her real quick."

"She's in the bathroom."

"Oh." She scowled. "Shoot."

"I mean, you can wait in here if you want, she's not gonna mind-"

"I can't stick around, I've gotta check on these guys at their posts." she groaned with a roll of her eyes. "I swear, it's a never-ending job..."

A brief pause.

"Uh." She slowly pulled an envelope from behind her back, glancing warily between it and Frisk. "Here."

Frisk took the letter as it was handed to him.

"Give this to Alphys." She shot him a slight glare. "And make sure you tell her it was from me."

He rotated it in his hands. "Yeah, sure thing."

"Thanks."

With that the fish woman grinned, bid him a swift goodbye, and went on her way.

Frisk returned to the desk. He spun about patiently in the chair while he waited for the other to return. A glance fell on that drawing again. He frowned to himself, and gave a single click to the 'next' button.

After what seemed like forever, his head snapped up at the sound of the door opening.

"Hah! Ok!" Alphys rushed back with a cheery smile. "So! What'd I miss?"

"Undyne stopped by."

Her eyes went wide, smile fading instantly. "What?! She did?! When?!"

"Like ten minutes ago."

"Ah-?! Dammit, of all the times to go to the bathroom-!"

"Well to be fair, you were in there forever…"

Those rabbit teeth bit her bottom lip a second, before she got frazzled all over again. "Well don't hold me in suspense, Frisk! What'd she say?!"

"Not much."

"O-oh."

"It wasn't me she wanted to see." He picked up the envelope. "She told me to give this you."

Alphys gasped, snatching it from him excitedly.

"Wh-what is it? Did she say? C-can I open it now? O-or should I wait? Or-?" She froze, beaming down at the letter in her tiny, trembling hands. "I'm opening it now."

With utmost care, she wiggled a claw under the envelope's fold and carefully ripped it open. Her fingers could barely extract the letter with all her jittering. All Frisk saw for the next five minutes was a shaking paper in front of her face; the occasional flip at the bottom if a long-contained breath suddenly shot out at it.

Then, out of nowhere, the highest-pitched scream the boy had ever heard.

 _"_ _ _Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"__ The girl squeed as she ran around the desk like a maniac. "She wants to see me! Sh-she wants to see __me!"__ Her hands shook as she read over the letter again and again. In an instant her knees weakened and she fell on her back. "H-holy shit-! I-I think I'm gonna be sick- __Ah-!__ __G-good sick,__ mind you-! __Super good sick-!__ Ah! I can't believe this, oh my __God!"__ She took a sharp breath, rolling back and forth with the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her.

In that moment, Mettaton returned from his show through the right-hand entryway. His eyes widened at this spectacle. "Oh? What's going on here?"

 _"_ _ _Ahhh!"__ She scrambled off the floor and rushed over to him, words coming out in short little huffs. _"_ _ _It's- Undyne- and- she- invited- me-"__ She broke out in a series of coughs, choking on her own voice.

She held the paper up and Mettaton slipped it from her unsteady hands.

The robot murmured through a simple but thoughtful attempt at a poem, voice picking up as he reached the letter's end. "Meet me at the junkyard tonight at 8:00." He squinted at the paper. "With what appears to be a…poorly drawn winky face?"

Alphys was still moving about more than she had in the past month; constantly flipping her hands to knock the shivers from them. She was a euphoric mess.

Mettaton laughed. "So, you finally got a date with her?" He gave her a friendly pat on her jittery shoulder. "Oh Alphys, I'm so proud of you!"

A brief choppy laugh, before her head shot up suddenly and she made a beeline for the desk. Frisk evacuated the chair as she rushed in to take back her spot at the computer. "Ah-! I better search up some p-pointers!"

Mettaton waved a hand dismissively as her trembling claws started typing away. "Oh, pointers, shmointers! You don't need that amateur nonsense, Alphys! What tips could the internet __possibly__ have on dating that I couldn't give you right now?"

"W-well-"

 _"_ _ _Tsk,__ come, come, my dear!" The robot eagerly grabbed her hand. "I've much knowledge to bestow upon you~!"

"O-ok, sure- a-and I need to see if I even have anything nice to wear-" A quick glance at Frisk. "Ah-! A-and we can look at more guys later-! Maybe after the d-date-"

Mettaton raised a curious brow as she continued to go off about something else. Frisk could just hear his signature 'Oh~?'

He was about to protest to that, but her constant rambling held him in a nonstop cutoff; quickly to the point in conversation where bringing it up would sound rehashing and completely off-topic.

"A-also, I have some more manga you can look through, i-if you're still interested!" she called as she hopped on the escalator after Mettaton, nearly tripping herself in the process.

"Y-yeah… Sure." His voice was half its usual volume. She was nearly out of sight by the time he'd even responded.

Frisk stood where he was, a slight heat spreading through his face. Eventually, he took a seat in her chair again with a quiet sigh.

He really didn't appreciate her drawing unnecessary attention to this. When he'd confided in her about his __issue,__ he'd hoped for a simple, discreet sort of answer. Just a little insight. Said. Done. No further discussion needed.

And what's worse…

The boy glanced upward.

He'd hardly spoken all day. He'd heard everything, yet relayed little more than a few words. Something about that induced its own brand of discomfort.

Frisk sulked around at her desk for a while; fiddling with her paperwork, absentmindedly listening to the clamor upstairs.

And as they were paying him no heed, well lost in the giddiness of getting Alphys ready for her date, he could speak aloud without looking strange.

…

"I feel like this was a mistake."

 _'"_ _ _No shit."'__

The reply was more immediate than he'd anticipated.

He sighed uneasily.

"Now she probably thinks I'm..." he trailed off, stomach twisting a little.

…

 _'"_ _ _What?"'__

"I dunno."

...

 _'_ _ _Gay.'__ he finished in his thoughts.

 _'"…_ _ _Well, are you?"'__

"Are __YOU?__ " he retorted.

Chara chuckled at his defensive tone. _'"_ _ _No."'__

 _'_ _ _Could have fooled me.'__

 _'"_ _ _At least I know what it feels like to fuck a woman."'__

Frisk's expression contorted at the sharpness of those words.

 _'"_ _ _Though if you must know, it really doesn't make a difference to me one way or the other."'__ Chara stated indifferently.

…

"…Should it?"

 _'"_ _ _Hm?"'__

"Sh-should it make a difference...?"

 _'"_ _ _...Why are you asking me this?"'__

"I don't know..." he muttered. "I just know sometimes...it's perceived as..."

 _'"_ _ _Unnatural?"'__

"Y-yeah..."

 _'"_ _ _Please."'__

A short silence.

 _'"_ _ _I don't understand why you're beating yourself up so much over it, Frisk. Not like any of these clowns give a shit what you're into."'__

Frisk remained quiet.

 _'"_ _ _Must be a personal inhibition then, am I right?"'__

"I-I don't know..."

 _'"_ _ _Hmph. In any case, it's not worth getting depressed over. It was funny at first, but now it's just annoying."'__

He held his shoulder as his voice dropped to a whisper. "I just feel so confused..."

A quiet huff.

 _'"_ _ _That's your business, Frisk. I really couldn't care less if you enjoyed that little session or not."'__

"...If you couldn't care less, why'd you egg me on like that?"

 _'"_ _ _Because I like watching you writhe around like a desperate little worm."'__

"...I don't get you, Chara..." he muttered.

 _'"_ _ _I don't expect you to."'__

…

Another span of silence.

…

"...What should I do...?"

A long exhale. _'"_ _ _What do you mean?"'__

Frisk shook his head at the floor. "...I don't know." A shuddering sigh. "I dunno what I'm supposed to feel."

 _'"_ _ _You feel how you feel. Simple as that."'__

"I don't understand..."

 _'"_ _ _I'm not your personal therapist, Frisk. You'd be better off talking to the robot about this."'__ Chara responded coldly.

 _ _Well that was certainly out of the question.__

Words failed him at that point. He let their conversation die in the silence.

There was a loud thud upstairs. Muffled voices ringing through the downstairs ceiling.

He decided to go check up on the little lizard girl.

The two friends stood before a mirror together. They'd gone through her wardrobe; finding only a black dress with white polka dots. It was the only nice outfit she had.

Alphys rotated her body at various angles, expression never faltering from a critical sort of pout. Her gaze remained glued to the mirror as she spoke.

"D-do you think I look ok…?"

"Oh darling, you look absolutely stunning~!" Mettaton stood behind her, brushing off her shoulders and straightening the straps of her dress.

"I…I dunno… It's…a little tight…" She looked at the floor nervously. "Y-you don't think it maybe m-makes me look…f-fat…?"

The robot gasped dramatically. _"_ _ _Alphys!__ I am __appalled__ that you would even suggest such a thing! You're much too hard on yourself…" His tone softened and he gently took her chin in his hands, tilting her head to make eye contact. "You, my dear, are a beautiful woman… Anyone who says otherwise is a fool."

"B-but Undyne…you don't think she's maybe…p-put off by it…? I-I mean…she's so… _ _fit__ …and I'm…w-well…not so much…"

A sly smirk. "So it only makes sense that she would want a soft, curvy girl like yourself to cuddle with at night, hm~?"

"Ah-!" The shy girl covered her quickly reddening face.

She squeaked again in embarrassment upon noticing her other friend leaning at the doorway.

The robot followed her gaze.

"Oh, come in, Frisk~!" He pushed the girl forward a bit as the other entered. "What do you think? Cute, right~?"

Frisk smiled coyly with a playful wink. "Super cute."

 _"_ _ _Ah-!"__ She cowered further behind her tiny hands.

"See, what did I tell you, darling?" He picked up a jar of cream from an array of MTT brand vanity items he'd sprawled out on her dresser. "And now the real fun begins~"

Frisk situated himself by the bookshelves while Mettaton went about introducing Alphys to one of his classic, over-the-top beauty regiments.

He skimmed through her collection, eventually settling on one of the comics that were printed in English. It was a generic story; something about a girl moving to a new town and the pile of drama that followed. He'd skipped well into the middle, to the first interesting scene he'd found. At least the art was nice.

He heard the others' voices in the background. Mettaton teasing her. Giving her advice; and his approval.

"She's a good choice, Alphys!"

A bashful smile.

"A bit brutish for my tastes, but damn, those muscles~"

"M-Mettaton!"

"Hey, nothing wrong going for the classic 'power woman' angle." he cooed

She half-smiled, holding her shoulder again. "Sh-she could literally bench press me if she wanted to."

The other grinned. "You should tell her that tonight."

"H-heh…n-no, no." she stuttered with a declining wave of her hand.

"Oh, c'mon, Alphys! Show a little confidence!"

"…I…I don't really…h-have any…"

Mettaton rolled his eyes with a _'_ _ _tsk.'__

"Well, you build confidence by stepping out of that little comfort zone of yours! So tonight, take the plunge! Make the first move!" he exclaimed with a dynamic gesture.

"…B-but isn't it better if I let her make the first move?"

"No!" He bopped her lightly on the head. "When you want something, darling, you have to __take it!"__ He squeezed her shoulders, puffing up her stance a bit. "And that means taking initiative! When you see her tonight, you walk right up to her, and you __tell__ her what's on your mind~!"

"Oh, hell no."

"Oh, hell __yes!"__

Her face scrunched slightly. Such a thought simultaneously amused and terrified her. Her head swiftly turned to get a second opinion.

"You agree with me, r-right, Frisk?"

He looked up from his book. "What?"

"Th-that it's better to let someone else take initiative…?"

Mettaton sent him a disapproving look from behind her.

His mouth hung open, eyes darting between the two for a second before he replied. "Yeah, sorry, I'm with her."

"Yes!" Her arms shot in his direction. "It's way less stressful, right?"

"And easier."

"A-and so much less mortifying-!"

Mettaton let out an exaggerated sigh. "My God, you two are hopeless…" He wiped the last of the exfoliant from her squishy cheek. "No matter." He held up a polish of some sort. Now…to put the finishing touches on those scales!"

"Oh, th-they're fine…I think…" she waved a hand dismissively.

"Fine? __Fine?"__ A sassy huff. "Alphys. Do you want to settle for 'fine?' …Or do you want… _ _dazzling~?"__

He handed her the bottle. Its bright pink text read: _'_ _ _MTT Dazzling Scale Polish.'__ The image on front depicted a gorgeous reptile woman with an unnaturally shiny, but beautiful scale coat.

She rotated the bottle in her hands a moment before uttering a reply.

"D-dazzling, I guess?"

The robot clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "That's what I like to hear!"

With that, he went about feverishly shining the lizard girl's scales to perfection. Frisk didn't mind the constant commotion; that is until a polish-soaked wipe was flung carelessly on his head.

"Oopsie! Sorry, darling!"

…

Frisk left soon after that, for the quiet of the downstairs office.

He'd invested himself, to some degree, in this weird little story; and for once actually found himself in proper mindset to finish it.

And he nearly did, until he heard footsteps again about 25 minutes later.

"W-well, I'm gonna head out now!" Alphys exclaimed, smoothing over her dress for the hundredth time.

Frisk glanced at the tiny clock on her computer screen. "...Two hours early?"

"Ahh, is that what time it is?" Anxious laughter. "Well you know what they say! Better two hours too early than a minute too late!" Her body shook like an earthquake was thrumming through her.

"You're nervous."

"Nervous? Me? No, no no no! Haha!"

Her eyes widened into a distant stare.

"Frisk."

...

"I'm fucking terrified."

Frisk closed his manga, shifting a bit awkwardly as he tried to come up with something encouraging to say.

"Well, uh…just be brave and…be yourself…and I, uh…wish you the best of luck-"

In an instant, the girl was in breakdown mode, closing the proximity between them in a second.

"Ahh, please don't make me go alone! I'm too young! Too young to die of the mortification that is the __dating scene!"__ She grabbed onto his sweater desperately, her weight dragging him down a foot or two as she clung to him. "Mettaton won't go with me, he says I need to take a leap of faith on my own, but I don't know what to say to her, I don't know what to do, I'm like a baby bird trying to leave the nest, but my wings are too small, and I can't fly, so I wind up just breaking my neck on the concrete like an idiot, except the concrete is Undyne, and-"

"Ok, fine! I'll go with you! Jesus..."

"Y-you will?"

"Yes. Just. Calm the fuck down." He gently pulled her hands from his shirt.

She looked like she was about to cry. "Thank you Frisk... You have no idea how much this means to me..."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just…head out."

He put up with her jitters the whole way there. The Riverman himself was fully up-to-date on this whole thing by the end of their ten minute canoe trip.

And there they'd arrived, amongst the trash heaps, over an hour ahead of schedule. They were both well aware of it. Frisk leaned against the cavern wall while Alphys paced about and twiddled her fingers, speaking only after several minutes of such worrying.

"Oh God, what was I thinking? I'm sorry, Frisk, I shouldn't have dragged you out here so early, we have an hour and a half to kill, w-what are we gonna do for an hour and a half-?! M-maybe we should just go back-?"

Frisk pinched the bridge of his nose as she rambled to herself.

"A-and I-I don't even know what to say when she __does__ get here-"

"Maybe you should use this time to __practice,__ then." he muttered.

She froze.

"Th-that's actually a good idea."

…

"Will you…help me?"

He sent her a sideways glance. "You want me to-"

 _"_ _ _Roleplay?"__ they spoke at the same time.

"Y-yeah."

"…Alright."

She perked up. "Really? Y-you'll do it?"

He nodded. "I'll be Undyne. Just…try to say to me what you would say to her."

"A-alright. Yes. Of course. Obviously. Heh. Ahem. O-obviously I would start with…" She cleared her throat again. "H-hi, Undyne… H-how are you doing today?"

"I'm fine." Frisk responded in a neutral tone.

"Ha! Ha! Glad to hear it!" she exclaimed nervously.

…

Her weird grin vanished. "Uhhh, so I'd like to, um, talk to you about something."

"What is it, Alphys?"

"Umm, you see…I…I…" She took a quick breath. "I… I h-haven't been exactly truthful w-w-with you… Y…you see, I… I…"

She took a sudden step forward. Was that a thread of confidence shining through her?

"Oh, forget it!" she exclaimed. "Undyne! I…I want to tell you how I feel! Y-you're so brave, a-and strong…a-and nice… Y-you always listen t-to me when I talk about n-n-nerdy stuff… Y-you always d-do your best to m-make me f-feel special… A-and I just want to t-tell you…I…I…"

Frisk heard the soft sound of muddy footsteps rounding a nearby pile of trash.

"Hey, Alphys, you're here earl-"

The fish woman froze upon seeing Frisk. Her lips curved into that distant, insane grin.

Awkward glances were exchanged for a few moments before she took an aggressive stride toward Frisk.

"You little weasel, I told you to tell her it was from __****me!"****__

"I __did!"__ Frisk backed up quickly as she approached. Glaring daggers at him, the woman looked about ready to beat him up on the spot. "Alphys, help me out here!" He shot a glance at Alphys, who was now hiding out in an empty trashcan.

"A-a-ah-!"

Undyne grimaced. "Oh great, you scared her!"

 _"_ _ _I__ scared her-?"

Undyne rushed over to the trashcan, pulling up the lid with ease, despite Alphys' little claws still hanging on for dear life. She laughed as the other let go with an _'_ _ _eep;'__ slumping down further in the can.

"C'mon, let's get you outta there, silly!"

 _ _Her demeanor always changed the second she was around Alphys.__

With the way she scooped her up, you'd guess the chubby girl weighed little more than a big, fluffy stuffed animal.

As Undyne set the other girl down, she shot another glare in Frisk's direction. A tiny tap on her arm stopped her.

"A-ah, um-" Alphys voice came out in a cracked, shy, stutter fit. "F-Frisk, um- earlier- h-he actually did, um, t-tell me i-it, er, th-the letter was from y-you- H-he just came with me, because…b-because I…w-was too much of a c-coward to c-come alone…" Her eyes never left the moggy ground.

…

"Oh." At that point she sent him a bold, apologetic grin instead. "Sorry about that, buddy. You know me, I can get kinda protective over my…" she trailed off awkwardly, eye widening a bit. "Friends."

 _"_ _ _Right."__

She cleared her throat, quickly turning her attention back to Alphys. "Well…it's not 8:00 yet, but we can still start the date now if you want!"

Alphys stifled a gasp with her hands. "O-oh!" She checked a small timepiece she'd slipped into her single dress pocket. "Th-that gives us an extra hour and thirteen minutes of d-date time!"

"Well then…" Undyne grinned, holding out her arm like a gentlewoman. "Shall we?"

The girl blinked nervously a few seconds, short stutters escaping involuntarily under her breath. She soon settled on a simple nod, taking the warrior woman's arm in her petite, shivering hands.

As they turned to leave, she took one last glance behind her. "A-and thank you, Frisk! F-for everything-!" She waved at him, sending him a grateful smile before turning back to her date.

With Undyne taking all conversational lead, it didn't take long for her to warm up to this. Frisk could just overhear the start of them making small talk as they walked off.

"Sorry for the misunderstanding back there, Alphys. Heh. I thought you two…"

She burst into laughter, Alphys immediately following.

"Oh, no, no, no-! Ha ha!" She waved a hand. "Frisk already has someone, anyway."

He barely caught that last line as they turned behind a junk pile. But it was more than enough to prick and torment him all over again.

…

 _'_ _ _Fucking hell…-'__

 _'"_ _ _You're still on this?"'__ Chara cut in with a matter-of-fact tone.

A hard shudder dug through him.

 _'"_ _ _You realize this is all on you, right?"'__

…

 _'"_ _ _Never once did you object to it. Never once did you tell me to go away."'__

"Yeah, and I don't exactly know what to think about that."

 _'"_ _ _My God, you're really looking too deeply into this, you know that?"'__

Frisk stared at the ground with a sort of guilty frustration.

"You don't get it."

 _'"_ _ _Oh no, I'm fairly certain I do."'__

"..."

 _'"_ _ _Naive straight male has one pleasurable experience with the same sex. Mistakes lust for attraction. Takes entire sexuality into question. Dwells on it until he drives himself into a constant state of self-loathing confusion."'__

…

 _'"_ _ _That sound about right?"'__

Frisk just stood there, staring wide eyed at the ground. His back straightened slightly.

"…Yeah."

 _'"_ _ _Hmph. Relax. You're not abnormal for feeling that way, trifling as it may be."'__

…

 _'"_ _ _There's nothing wrong with you."'__

His brow furrowed slightly. "Are you being...non-patronizing right now?"

A huff. _'"_ _ _No. You're still a fuckup in a multitude of other facets."'__ He paused a second. _'"_ _ _But as far as your sexual interests go, believe me when I say they could be much worse."'__

Frisk shifted uneasily.

 _'"…_ _ _You're finding this hard to digest. How interesting."'__

The boy's focus drifted to the sleeves of his sweater.

 _'"_ _ _Do you really find the idea that repulsive? Or is it just that well engrained in you?"'__

Frisk swallowed hard with a choked gasp before he was able to speak.

"It's more you."

 _'"_ _ _Is it?"'__

"I mean, it's not like I- I never really- Fuck, I don't know, it's complicated. Everything about this is so goddamn complicated..."

 _'"_ _ _You're the one who's making it complicated."'__

His expression contorted in disagreement.

A lengthily silence passed between them.

…

 _'"_ _ _If it's any consolation, I feel nothing for you. Absolutely nothing."'__

"Hah. Well isn't that a relief..." he mumbled sarcastically.

A quiet hum. _'"_ _ _Just trying to clear things up a bit."'__

…

"I'm just...not sure how I'm supposed to talk to you."

 _'"_ _ _You're not very sure how to talk to anyone."'__ he muttered with a slight sigh. _'"_ _ _It doesn't matter, Frisk. Talk to me however you see fit. Your words have very little bearing on me."'__

Uncomfortable quietness returned.

His thoughts wandered. His voice, eventually, seemed to speak on its own.

…

"...Like..." he trailed off, much to the annoyance of Chara.

 _'"_ _ _Like...?"'__ he repeated impatiently.

Memories clouded him. His mind was teetering on something, and eventually, these thoughts fabricated themselves into dodgy, hesitant words.

"...Should I bring it up...again...at all? Or not? Or…"

...

 _'"_ _ _Heh. My God."'__

...

 _'"_ _ _You... You are something else, you know that?"'__

"Why, what'd I do?" he asked, a little too fast.

An almost sinister sort of chuckling. _'"_ _ _You're wavering on asking me if I'd do it again."'__

"Fuck- No I wasn't-!" His face was heating from his blatant lie.

 _'"_ _ _And my answer is..."'__

A subtle tingle pricked at the back of his neck. Chara's words fell into the back of his head in a harsh whisper.

 _ **'"**_ _ _ ** **Maybe. If I'm bored enough."'****__

Frisk bit his lip involuntarily.

The other laughed.

A lightness in the air immediately followed; though he stood there shaken for a minute or two.

The boy eventually pulled himself from his daze, and, with slight mental disorientation, made for Hotland again.

He found some sense of comfort and relief upon arriving back at the hotel. He'd kept the key, having planned to stay one more night before he concluded his journey.

Frisk plopped down on the bed with a sigh. The fan was still on from this morning, sending a cool breeze over his heated clothing.

The next half hour or so was spent in complete silence; just him casually resting his eyes, legs still hanging off the side of the bed. He eventually sat up again, stretching slightly as he did so.

"So…tomorrow." he spoke as he kicked his shoes off. "…Tomorrow I'll finally finish this."

 _'"_ _ _Mhm."'__

"Get everyone back to the surface… Back to normal…"

…

Quiet again. Frisk looked up at the ceiling.

"So, question. If, uh…if you were Toriel's son, Asgore was like…your dad then, right?"

A slight pause before he replied.

 _'"…_ _ _Asgore was a father figure, yes."'__

He shifted slightly.

"Then, er…sorry for…y'know…killing them…all those times before…"

A soft huff. _'"_ _ _It doesn't matter. They're alive and well now, aren't they?"'__

The way he said it sounded almost resentful.

Frisk just nodded once to that. "So, um…" he trailed off before he even started.

…

 _'"…_ _ _Why the sudden desire to strike up a conversation with me?"'__

He glanced off. "I don't know…"

 _'"_ _ _Just lonely again?"'__

"I guess."

 _'"_ _ _Figures."'__

"Well, do you mind…?"

…

"'Cause I can stop if you-"

 _'"_ _ _What do you really want, Frisk?"'__

He blinked. "Nothing."

 _'"_ _ _You wouldn't bother if it was nothing."'__

"I'm just trying to be friendly."

Chara laughed. _'"_ _ _Christ."'__

Silence befell them again.

…

"Why do you have to make everything so uncomfortable?"

 _'"_ _ _I've a great talent for it."'__

…

 _'"_ _ _Same way you have a great talent for making everything feel utterly monotonous."'__

Frisk glared off to the side with a frown. "I'm not m…" The objection barely made it out before his own harsh realization hit.

…

 _'_ _ _Shit, I guess I kind of am…'__

A slight hum. _'"_ _ _You remind me of a shell of a man who once had a sense of purpose."'__

 _'…_ _ _Ouch.'__

…

A few seconds ticked by, followed by a quiet, thoughtful 'hm.'

 _'"…_ _ _Come to think of it, there are few times I've ever seen you break from that hazy shell..."'__

Frisk swore he could feel him smiling.

 _'"_ _ _And every single time, it was with me."'__

He glanced away, discomfort twisting in his chest. "Well, yeah. Because you pretty much traumatized me… Several times…"

 _'"_ _ _I didn't traumatize you."'__

He stated that like it was a fact. The volume of his voice steadily grew as he continued; each word further spaced than the last, with increasing accentuation.

 _'"_ _ _For once, in your sad, mundane little life, I made you feel__ ** _ ** _alive."'_**_**

Frisk's body jolted forward with that last word. The other chuckled as if he'd just proved his point.

 _'"_ _ _Why the hell else would you be putting forth such an effort?"'__

…

The chopping of the fan seemed to slice through the air.

Their conversation had more or less died, with Frisk's lack of response and Chara's discontinuation.

Frisk lied back quietly. That last question prodded at him, just long enough for him to entertain it...

The friendship idea, of course, was absolute bullshit. They both knew that…

…He cringed to even put 'Chara' and 'romantic' in the same sentence…

…

Well then, just what the fuck was left?

What __was__ the driving motivation that pushed him to have any more interaction than necessary with the psychopath in his head?

…

 _'_ _ _I don't know.'__

It was the only answer that surfaced. And he was completely dissatisfied with it. Though, with nothing more logical coming to mind, he reluctantly found himself accepting one simple fact...

His feelings toward this man, whatever they were…were not founded in any slither of rationality.

Frisk sat up again. He glanced at the ceiling, but neither spoke. It became clear to him that Chara wasn't about to give him the comfort, nor satisfaction, of being a passive contributor in this.

With a quiet sigh, he leaned forward and finally allowed himself to speak; voice barely above an uncertain whisper.

"...Were you serious about that? When you said you'd...um..." he trailed off, heart now pumping blood more urgently through his system.

The other chuckled softly. _'"_ _ _What do you think?"'__ he asked with a playful sort of hiss.

His breathing hitched, body staggering a bit.

 _'"_ _ _I'm always serious, Frisk."'__

The voice seemed to pulse through his every cell. Frisk's eyes darted around the room while his hands fidgeted in his lap; restless and unsure where to settle themselves.

He heard a gentle, deliberate humming; quiet and cryptic, like a siren's lure.

That dreadful little gland in the back of his brain pulsed; that which wrecked over his inhibition just long enough for him to make regrettable decisions he never seemed to learn from. It was an impulse that won the battle over his conscience every time.

His voice spoke for him, not for a moment bothering to weigh this sudden drive against his usual sensibilities.

...

"So, how bored are you?"

Chara responded with a sly little purr.

 _'"_ _ _Very, actually."'__

His fingers interlocked tightly, palms sweating. There was a slight bounce it his knee and forcefulness to his breathing.

 _'"_ _ _How do you propose we resolve this...dilemma?"'__ Chara's voice was lower. Rougher. A strange sort of focused.

A jolt of adrenaline laced his tongue. Yet at the same time his throat felt completely dry. He choked on his words as he tried to reply, hands anxiously gripping and kneading the bedding beneath him.

"I-I don't know, what did you have in mind?" he squeaked out quickly.

A quiet inhaling flooded his ears. It was prolonged, intentional, slightly shaky from the other's natural response to this.

 _'"_ _ _Entertain me...Frisk."'__

 _ **[[[[[Scene omitted to keep this postable.]]]]]**_

An exhausted sigh of satisfaction as his body stilled. He was granted a brief respite before Chara spoke again.

 _'"_ _ _I knew you wouldn't be able to last."'__

His head lowered into his chest.

 _'"_ _ _Far too impulsive."'__

"It's difficult..." he murmured into the covers.

 _'"_ _ _Yes, I know."'__

An eye opened.

 _'"_ _ _But rewarding."'__

His gaze was cast downward, breathing still plenty audible from his exertion. It took a minute for him to recover.

The room filled with tense quietness, much like before; neither one jumping to be the first to break it.

Frisk, still holding to that, went off to the bathroom. His demeanor was normal. Almost too normal, all things considered.

…

 _'"_ _ _Well?"'__

…

"Just washing my hands." he murmured.

…

 _'"_ _ _Today isn't about to repeat itself, is it?"'__

Frisk blinked a few times, his voice still quiet. "Yeah, no, I'm good."

A soft grunt of approval.

…

"It's just surreal, that's all."

 _'"_ _ _Hm?"'__

He walked out and began gathering his discarded clothing from the floor.

"I mean, I don't know who you are... I barely know anything about you."

Chara huffed briefly. _'"_ _ _Nor I you."'__ A pause. _'"_ _ _And need it be any different?"'__

Frisk quickly redressed himself. Smoothing over his shirt, he took a seat on the bed again, never quite giving a proper response to that.

 _'"_ _ _I'm nothing more than a voice in your head."'__

"…Well, you're a little more than that…"

Momentary chuckling.

He smiled as he settled himself in bed.

"Well, um…goodnight, I guess…" He flipped the lamp switch, shrouding the room in soft darkness.

…

Chara's voice was quiet as he spoke.

 _'"_ _ _Goodnight."'__

Frisk nuzzled into his pillow, finally feeling some sense of peace as he closed his eyes to sleep.

Tomorrow he would fight Asgore.

Shatter the Barrier.

And ultimately, live out the rest of his days in the sweet, simple normalcy he'd fought so hard to regain.


	12. Chapter 12

It had been nearly 3 months since Frisk shattered the Barrier.

The entire monster populace had migrated to the surface. A bit impulsive, given there was nothing waiting for them on the other side. After the initial reverie had faded, they were left a bit unsure of what to do with themselves.

The landscape had changed drastically during their time down there. It was something only older monsters would have recognized. The sky was clear now. Clean clouds instead of billowing smoke. Trees had regrown. Grass and flowers had flourished over the dust and dirt that covered this mountain so many years ago.

At this point, they had no qualms with the humans, despite it all. Peace was their sole desire.

They'd sent Frisk to them initially, to break the ice on their behalf. It was a shock, to say the very least. Luckily violence was not their first reaction; and they were sympathetic enough to appreciate the monsters' neutral, self-serving intentions in seeking a new place to live.

The humans, understandably, wished not to disrupt the peaceful functioning within their own cities. Knowing the discourse that might stir with sudden announcements of a foreign monster race popping back up, it was decided that secrecy was their best course of action.

They were permitted to stay, found a town, even a small city if they wished…given they kept their distance and remained, for the most part, in pleasant seclusion.

Thus they wrote it into law, quietly. A short peace treaty, signed by Asgore and the governor from the nearest human city. A few simple words to set in stone, prohibiting hostility from either party; an unspoken rule only to be brought to public light if absolutely necessary.

It was an outcome most monsters found highly favorable; especially those who'd held onto that twinge of fear that surfacing would allow history to repeat itself all over again.

But the humans, to everyone's relief, gave them not a single incident. If anything, the few they took interaction with had been warily accommodating, and at times even pleasant, during this awkward transitional point.

They quickly established an unusual kind of trade route with a nearby town, in which they'd exchange harvested resources from the forest for food and other necessary supplies. Procuring means of construction proved to be the most challenging step of their endeavor. But, resolute as they were, they prevailed. And there, within the boundaries of the mountain wilderness, their civilization flourished.

In the impressive span of a few weeks they had established several small, but highly functional townships. They looked the same for the most part, though certain sectors were tailored more specifically to mimic the environmental comforts sought by different breeds.

Undyne took refuge with other aquatic monsters, in stone and mudbrick houses built by a river, heavily shaded by pine trees. Alphys, in a close by rocky clearing, well exposed to direct sunlight. And so forth.

They had running water. A few primal means to adjust temperature. Electricity at the time was…far from perfect, but enough to light houses and run appliances with some level of dependability.

Despite their humble situation, the monsters, for the most part, had finally found the contentment they'd been seeking all their lives. The need for progress, a sort of nagging want for restoration, rested with people like Mettaton. Even Alphys seemed to have taken an indefinite breather from her scientific work, much to his annoyance. However, this annoyance bred action, dedication, which in turn bred results; and he was soon on his way to developing a station to reinstate the population's access to localized television and radio.

Centered within these smaller towns was what might be considered their new Capital. It wasn't much more impressive than the other settlements, but it was secure and tight-knit, ideal for anyone valuing safety and comradery in their new location. It felt like Snowdin, without the snow. And given this is where the king now resided, those within that area felt most at ease.

This is where Frisk had settled as well, making his home with Toriel, naturally.

Even though she was in close proximity to plenty of neighbors, she would have remained painfully lonely had he decided to go elsewhere. For a woman like her, an empty house was a heavy weight to bear. Frisk's presence, reserved as it may be, made her world feel alive.

Things going as they were, life almost felt normal again.

Almost.

He was aware there was a difference this time. A massive difference. This outcome had been a costly do-over, and he tried hard to ignore that grating fact.

As far as Chara…well, he really didn't pop up much. His words were infrequent, overall presence little more than a subtle residence within him.

Frisk never brought this up of course. It was a bit weird, yes. But he wasn't exactly missing the invasive nature of his 'companionship.'

Conversations were brief. Few and far between. Their words had lost that hateful bite; and, given there wasn't much else to replace it with, it left most of their interactions hollow of any prominent emotion.

Frisk had long since dropped the festering infatuation that had taken hold of him for that brief time. Chara, to his surprise, seemed to have done the same.

It was never spoken of. It was almost as if it never happened.

Their initial deals?

Never mentioned them.

That one dream that had ever so slightly parted the spiteful tensions between them?

Never brought it up.

Those two little sessions that almost teetered on genuine intimacy?

Swept under the rug and forgotten.

They fell into an endless loop of casual informalities.

If there was anything to be said, neither was willing to make the first move. And given that these past matters with Chara didn't exactly have a direct impact on his daily life, Frisk did by default what he's always done best; shrug it off and passively move on.

On occasion he would wonder what Chara was doing up there. What was keeping him occupied while he went about his, as predicted, painfully average life. Watching a person go through a casual and non-climactic routine, day after day, could only be interesting for so long.

The man was probably bored out of his mind.

Nevertheless, his life had finally been restored, in a way even improved. Every morning he awoke to the natural sunlight pouring in through his bedroom window. The moment he left the house he'd be guaranteed to meet a familiar face strolling down the street. And every night he was greeted with a nice meal by a woman who had quickly become his mother figure.

This was enough for him now.

It was more than enough.

Hell had sliced through his apathy, trampled him to his core, and stuffed his heart with gratitude. It wrung and twisted him to where it was hard to recognize who he was before. And in many ways, it was for the better.

With Chara's absence, it was easy to focus on his life again. Simple, and pleasant.

Today was particularly quiet. Tori had gone out earlier in the morning, thus Frisk had been left by himself for most the day. He'd awoken barely an hour ago, and was finally making his way out to the kitchen.

On the dining table lay a tiny stack of paper; impossible to miss given the surface was otherwise clear. A scribbly cursive note left was for him, atop an envelope.

 _ _Frisk,__

 _ _Went out for groceries. Be back around noon, hopefully.__

 _ _Mail came today. This was for you.__

 _ _Love, Toriel.__

He picked up the envelope. The only thing on its front was his name, in bold black print. Frisk turned it about in his palm curiously, before carefully tearing into it.

The letter inside was addressed formally to him, from Asgore. His handwriting was neat and very professional, though the excessive cursive style was a bit hard for Frisk to decipher at first.

His eyes scanned over the words. It was an invitation; or more, informative note of a celebration to be thrown in his honor, a little less than a week from today. A declaration of his success, for liberating the monster race.

 _ _We anticipate you'll grace us with your attendance to this marvelous ceremony.__

 _ _Sincerely,__

 _ _His Majesty, Asgore Dreemurr__

Asgore. Despite him living right in the same district, he hadn't seen much of him since their battle. Frisk was sure that had to do with the fact that he'd taken residence with his ex-wife. Though according to this letter, the man certainly seemed to hold him in high regard.

He skimmed it once more and his lips curled into a pleasant smile.

 _'_ _ _They're throwing a celebration for me...? They've never done that before.'__

 _'"_ _ _Oh, well congratu-fucking-lations."'__

The words were spiked with malice and sarcasm. He hadn't heard that voice in weeks.

Frisk blinked upward, opening his mouth a moment, before quickly shutting it again. His brow furrowed slightly as he looked away.

"…Uh, thanks." he murmured, clearing his throat.

An awkwardness twisted inside him. He licked his lips a second, staring off at nothing in particular. Again he coughed softly.

"Um… You've been quiet lately."

 _'"…_ _ _Have I? I hadn't noticed."'__

…

He pursed his lips. Following another small sigh, he addressed him again.

"Are you…alright…?"

…

"You've just been, like…silent… For a really __long__ time… It's…kinda…a little freaky, I dunno."

…

 _'"_ _ _I didn't think it was all that abnormal."'__

…

Silence again.

Frisk clicked his teeth uncomfortably. "Eh…I guess I just wonder… If you're not talking, and you're just…there…" He fiddled with the papers as he spoke. "What have you been doing all this time…?"

…

 _'"_ _ _Watching."'__

That tone. Inconspicuous as it seemed, he did not like that tone.

No words followed, but that implication hung in the air.

With the sudden weight around him, his posture became stiff and constrained. Thoughts blotted into a nervous haze, and his nails clawed about absentmindedly in response to the tension.

His entire body jolted as the front door swung open.

 _"_ _ _Jesus f-!"__

That petrified expression relaxed upon seeing Toriel, arms full of grocery bags.

"Frisk dear, can you take some of these? I was going to take a cart, but we live so close- I didn't think I'd get this much, but I kept seeing things and bought more than I could carry."

"Oh- Yeah- Yeah, sure."

The boy quickly relieved her of some of her bags.

"Oh-! Thank you, sweetie." she breathed in relief. "I don't know what I was thinking, this kind of strain can wreak havoc on an old lady's back- __Oh Lord-"__ There was a series of prominent crackles as she stretched, as if to illustrate her point.

With a breathy exhale, she went about unloading some of the things into their small mini-fridge. Frisk assisted her with emptying the bags.

"Well. Now we've got plenty of options for lunch. More than we bargained for, frankly… What were you thinking?"

"Heh. Actually I'm still looking to get breakfast."

Her head whipped toward him. "You haven't eaten breakfast yet?"

"I just got up."

"You __just__ got up?" she asked with a scolding gasp. "Frisk, it's half past noon!"

He just smiled guiltily.

 _"_ _ _Tsk. What is it with teenage boys sleeping into the afternoon, I swear__ … _"_ she mumbled as she stacked away the last of their groceries into the pantry.

Frisk dusted his hands on his sweater, then perked up suddenly. "Oh hey, I opened that letter." A tinge of excitement made its way back into his voice. "It was this invitation thing- from Asgore."

 _"_ _ _Asgore?"__

"Here, here, just read it." he said with a grin as he handed off the letter.

Tori immediately winced at his annoyingly perfect handwriting. She murmured under her breath as she read over it, then stood in silence a moment before speaking.

"Tsk. He tries so hard to be formal." A dry chuckle. "And here he used to have his son proofread this nonsense. But as for you-" She smiled sweetly, handing back the letter. "I'm proud of you, Frisk. You deserve something like this, for all you've done… We are absolutely attending…" she trailed off, smile fading slightly. "Though we'll have to get you a suit. Not sure where we'll find one those up here..."

"Well, it's not totally necessary…"

"Yes it is."

"It is?"

 _"_ _ _Yes,__ Frisk. You are not wearing a __sweater__ to a royal gathering."

"…Fair point." He smiled slightly. "In that case, I think I might have a hunch or two on where to look…"

There weren't many places to shop for clothes locally; nice ones at that. It almost all came from Mettaton and his little 'company,' for he was the only one vain enough to invest anything in the fashion business so early on. Though he could be snooty at times, he kept his pricing rather generous. Having designed much of it himself, he got more payment in seeing people __wear__ his clothing than the actual sales revenue.

They had plenty of time, but Tori, being prudent as she was, took him that very day. They weren't the only ones. The place was unusually crowded.

Mettaton was there, sassily ordering around some burnt-out employees. He quickly caught eye of Frisk and rushed over, beaming.

"Welcome, welcome darling~! Are you here to shop for that event t- Oh, what am I saying, of course you are! Come in, come in!" He placed a hand on each of their shoulders and ushered them in excitedly.

"Wait, wait- You guys know already?" Frisk asked in surprise.

"Oh, the whole town knows, darling! All the invites went out today!"

"Yeah, I guess they must have… Looks like everyone and their mother is here…" he mumbled.

"Ha ha! Indeed~" He emitted an amused robotic chuckle. _"_ _ _And they said this was a frivolous investment..."__

Toriel's eyes lit up as they scanned over all the colorful fabrics on display. "Ah, you wouldn't happen to have any gowns for a lady my size, would you?" she asked with a giddy chuckle.

"Oh __darling,__ we have an entire collection for you to browse! My attendants here would be happy to assist you-!" He gestured over toward a stylishly dressed cat and crocodile. "In the meantime, I can get Frisky here fitted for a tux~"

"Don't call me that-"

The man just 'tsked' him and turned his attention back to Toriel.

"And don't you worry about cost, darling, it's on the house."

"Oh my, that's- That's so very generous of you-"

"Oh, hush!" He gestured upward with a sweet, sassy smile. "You're a queen, my dear! It's time to start dressing like it!" He sent her a final playful wink, then called over Bratty and Catty. And with that, he escorted Frisk to the backrooms.

Though he had been busy managing the store, he made special time for him; just to be sure the man of the hour was fitted __perfectly__ for the occasion. And the employees were probably relieved to get a short break from his constant micromanaging.

He took his measurements, then gathered an array of suits to go through. What followed, well…his level of commitment was admirable to say the least.

Only Mettaton could cheekily flirt with a guy, nitpick his outfit, debate with himself over said outfit, and rebuke his own argument in the same breath.

He would ask Frisk's opinion, but it really didn't matter. Mettaton's brilliant fashion expertise would ultimately override it. But hey, he was the guy who would have worn a freakin' sweater, so... __He certainly trusted the robot's judgement.__

Mettaton had him standing in front of a mirror, alternating between the two suits he'd narrowed it down to.

"So we have A... Or B. A. B. A-"

"They look exactly the same."

Mettaton gasped. "These?! __What?!__ They look nothing alike!"

Frisk looked back and forth between the two plain black suits.

"...I...literally can't find a single difference."

"No, no. Darling. You're missing it." He rubbed his temple and clicked his tongue. "See the collar on this one? The subtle crease right here? This intricate stitching we worked __so hard__ to design...?"

...

"Um…" Frisk squinted at the fabric a few seconds, then grunted softly in resignation. "...Sure."

"Right! So it's completely different from B."

"Y...es..."

"…God, you're just agreeing with me now, aren't you?"

"...Yeah."

Mettaton let out a long sigh, muttering quietly under his breath. _"_ _ _Ugh, some men have no appreciation for fashion, I swear, the nerve..."__ A slight cough. "Alright!" He perked up suddenly with a clap of his hands. "To put it __simply,__ you've got two looks here."

He stood behind Frisk again and held the first suit in front of him.

"Handsome. Mysterious. May or may not have OCD."

He held up the second one.

"Or there's this one that says, 'I'm dressed for a formal setting, but I've got a colorful personality!'"

"Um-"

 _"_ _ _Or…"__ The robot smirked and pulled a third suit from the rack. "Of course there's always C. _'_ _ _I clean up nice, but I'm an animal in bed.'"__

"...How exactly does one get all that from a suit?"

"It's in the subtleties, darling. They're like a language of their own."

"Well in that case, I guess I'll go with the first one."

"Excellent choice!"

 _ _Though he still didn't see the damn difference.__

They didn't end up leaving together. By the time Mettaton was finally done with him, Toriel was still plenty occupied selecting her own formal dress. While he waited for her, he decided to take a short walk through the lively little town.

He wound up bumping into the skeleton brothers. Or more, he willingly approached them, given he'd heard Papyrus' voice ringing through the air long before he actually saw him.

They were bickering over the necessity of puzzle traps again. Since they'd settled up here, Sans had been lazier than ever about keeping up with them. And of course, that ticked Papyrus off to no end.

"And you told me __this- morning-__ you would recalibrate your puzzles! You didn't calibrate anything!"

"I forgot."

 _"_ _ _You-!__ Well, you need to do it! Regularly!"

"Why?"

 _"_ _ _Why?"__

"People just trip over them."

"Yes, that is the __point,__ Sans!"

"It's more trouble than it's worth, bro."

"It's a deterrent, __bro!"__

"From what?"

…

"I…ahem…" He blinked at him blankly for a few seconds, then scowled. "You know what? I'm getting __pretty tired__ of having to explain these things to you-!"

Sans snickered, and the other's scowl only grew deeper.

Papyrus heard a second set of snickering and flipped his head around like an owl. His frown immediately faded.

"Frisk! Ah, Frisk, hi!" Papyrus waved excitedly in his face and started off on a ramble. "Did you hear about the party they're throwing for you?! It's so exciting, I was wondering when they were going to get around to that! It's been what, 3 months now? It's so overdue, don't you think?! I was going to throw you one myself, but I've been a bit __sidetracked__ lately…" he muttered, peering at Sans.

Frisk chuckled. "So you guys already got invited too, huh?"

"Oh, but of course! It's only natural they would want to summon the Great Papyrus to such an occasion!" His hand whipped out an envelope with his first name scribbled on it. "Lookie here, see?! It was a personal invitation and everything!"

"Yeah. Super personal. I got the exact same one." Sans murmured with that lazy grin.

Papyrus spun around with a huff.

 _"_ _ _Well.__ I'm still flattered to be invited." He perked up. "Nyeh! Speaking of which! Sans!"

"What?" he answered as the other popped up right in his face.

"Sans! This is a formal affair!" He pointed up dramatically. "Thus, we simply __must__ find __formal wear!"__

Sans just stared ahead uncomfortably. "Uh. Actually. I kinda had a thing that night."

 _ **"**_ _ _ ** **SANS!****__ Don't be so __****rude!****__ _ _He's standing right there, you bonehead!"__

"I…was joking. Heh."

Papyrus sighed in exasperation.

"Tori made me get my suit today too." Frisk smirked at the stout skeleton. "She's coming, y'know."

For a split second there was a glimmer that flashed in his eyes.

"Oh." His smile, though exactly the same, suddenly seemed more genuine. "Why didn't ya say so, kid?" He glanced up at his brother cheekily. "Maybe I can make room in my busy schedule to try on some stuffy suits after all…"

Papyrus shot him an excessive frown. _"_ _ _You are terrible."__

His eyes just flicked awkwardly between Papyrus and Frisk as he still wore that stoic grin.

The other groaned and grabbed him by his hoodie. "Come on, you! We're getting out of here before you make me die of embarrassment! __Again!"__ As he began trudging away, he spun around and waved. "Farewell, Frisk! We shall see you in…" He pulled a cheap kid's watch from his costume pocket and slapped it on his wrist. "4 days, 18 hours, 16 minutes, and 32 seconds!" With a final wave, he was running off, dragging a sluggish Sans behind him.

In the days leading up to the event, Frisk found himself attracting more attention than usual. The monsters had been beyond grateful to him, he was always aware of that, but he'd never received so many thanks all at once. With all that had been going on in prior weeks, everyone was mostly preoccupied with their little colonization up to this point.

The night of the celebration seemed to come in no time.

Toriel was busy getting herself primped and primed for the night. She'd been doing so for the past 3 hours; between the gown, and the immaculate grooming, the jewelry, perfume and all the little touch ups to make herself look her very best for tonight…

And all this time she'd been under the impression that Frisk was doing the same. So of course it was to her dismay when she found him face-first smushed into the couch cushion, shamelessly napping in his suit.

"Frisk! I thought you were getting ready!"

"Huh- What? Oh-" He startled awake and sat up quickly with a restrained yawn. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready."

She frowned in disapproval. "No you are not, young man, just look at your hair! And your __suit!__ It's all wrinkled now…" she scolded him.

"Alright, __alright..."__

Frisk rolled sluggishly off the sofa, and the woman followed him insistently as he trudged off to the bathroom.

He picked up his hairbrush. Brushed his hair back once. Then set in down.

"Ok, now I'm ready."

"My God, you're as bad as Asriel, __come here-!"__ She stopped him as he tried to escape.

"Whaaat?" he whined.

"You're not going out like that!"

"Why, it's fine…"

"Oh stop it, you sound like a child."

Tori took the brush herself and straightened his unkempt hair. Then as she fixed up his suit, she bombarded him with reminders for the night.

"Make sure you smile, alright? Greet everyone with kindness and converse accordingly."

"Yes, Tori."

"And remember to stand up straight." Her hands squeezed his shoulders. "None of that slouching nonsense, you hear?"

"Yes, Tori."

"Everyone will be watching, so you must present yourself as a mature gentleman at all times-"

 _"_ _ _Yes, Tori."__

The woman hummed, then smiled down at him proudly, dusting off his suit one last time. "You look very handsome."

Frisk returned the smile bashfully. "Thank you."

He glanced at himself in the mirror. It really was the nicest he'd ever looked.

They left shortly after. Tori had been so proactive, Frisk's little tidying session hadn't thrown them behind schedule at all. In fact, they were more than half an hour early.

They arrived at a grand dining hall. It was surprisingly spacious; with more than enough room to accommodate all who attended. Surely it was the largest building they'd constructed thus far.

It was a brightly lit space, full of elegant dining tables adorned with fine glassware. Banquet tables were lined against the walls. It wasn't meticulously organized or anything. Preparations had been made by Asgore and his direct servants. It had the fancy aspect of formality without the stuffiness.

Pretty much everyone had dressed up, at least to some degree, and were busy mingling about in upbeat conversations.

Undyne was dressed in a women's suit, and clinging to her arm was Alphys, in that same polka dot dress. Mettaton was in a dazzling, perfectly tailored red suit. The three of them were chattering happily by one of the banquet tables.

Sans lingered around one of such tables. He seemed to be dodging Papyrus, who kept pursuing him relentlessly. Frisk could tell even from this distance he was not happy about something. As he approached he soon found out.

The two were wearing what were supposed to be matching folded ties. Papyrus' was orange, perfectly neat and smooth. Sans was blue, undone, and somehow wrinkled despite all his brother's efforts to press them beforehand. And boy was he hearing about it.

Tori seemed more than happy to intervene on his behalf. __If skeletons could blush…__

Frisk left them to their own devices and amused himself just taking in the sights around him. He had plenty of people come up to him in that span; greeting him, thanking him, congratulating him, some even jumping him for a hug. It was a little overwhelming, but he was completely jovial.

Eventually they were all seated, and Asgore stood at a raised podium on a small stage within everyone's view.

"Friends, we are gathered here tonight to celebrate the courage and selflessness of a special young man; and how his efforts tipped the scale in our conquest for liberation!"

The room roared into a cheer. Once every voice fell quiet again, the man continued.

"It had been over 20 years since our people had last seen the light of day. For many of our kin, visions of the surface existed only in stories and daydreams... War had shaken our civilization to its core. With every passing day, our hopes for restoration bled from us…"

One could hear a pin drop in this space; every ounce of attention was focused on the king as he proceeded with a lengthily speech regarding the history of their plight, and all that entailed. His demeanor shifted to something more celebratory as he neared its end.

"When all else failed, he prevailed. With strength. Perseverance. And determination."

His eyes scanned across the room, finally locking on the single human. He continued with a wide gesture to his audience.

"No soul before you will ever forget that radiant birth of sunlight… The crowning moment of our freedom."

Glass in hand, he toasted the night.

"To Frisk! May your story be told for centuries to come!"

A wave of cheers, whistles, and applause swept across the room.

Only moments following, the boy was overcome with a savage case of vertigo, followed by what felt like a hammer cracking his head.

The dizziness threw him against the back of his chair and washed over him, leaving him completely disoriented. The world seemed to blur for a swift point in time, and he was incoherent to the voices around him.

"Frisk, are you alright?"

Toriel had been seated next to him. Her eyes were wide with shock and concern. With all the commotion, she seemed to be the only one to notice his condition.

"Yeah… Yeah…I'm…" he trailed off with a wince, clutching his head forcefully.

"I thought you took medicine before we left?"

"I __did…"__

His eyes start blinking heavily. It didn't help his fuzzy vision. Lights suddenly seemed annoyingly bright. It quickly overtook him and became too much to bear.

 _"_ _ _Fuck, I gotta go."__

"Frisk-"

"Sorry- I- I'm sorry- I'll be right back-"

He stood abruptly and pushed himself into the crowd before she could protest again. It was impossible to make it anywhere completely unnoticed, but after some squeezing and shoving he managed to duck into the bathroom.

With a ragged exhale, he approached the mirror.

He stared deeply into his reflection, grinding his fingers into his forehead and hissing bitterly through his teeth. _"_ _ _What the fuck?! Is this you?! Are you seriously fucking with me right now, because I swear to God-! You disappear for weeks, then pop up at the worst fuckin' time-!"__

"Who're ya talkin' to, buddy?"

Frisk froze at the sound of Sans' voice in the stall next to him.

"Shit- I thought I was alone-"

"Nope." the skeleton spoke casually as he opened the door. "It was pretty congested out there." A shrug. "So I thought I'd hide in here awhile. Kill some time." His eyes locked on Frisk with concern. "…Are you ok?"

Frisk blinked at him a second before responding. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a headache."

"Do you talk to all your headaches like that?"

"Wh-" He felt a jolt of nervousness, but tried to brush it off as a joke. "Nah. This is a special occasion."

"A special headache?"

"Try migraine."

"Ouch. Well that sucks."

"Yeah..."

There was a brief silence between them until Sans smiled with a chuckle.

"So… You wanna be bathroom buddies 'til this thing is over?"

"Ha. Well considering this __thing__ was thrown specifically for me, I should probably try to stick it out."

"Oh yeah. Guess you have a point there." Another low snicker. "But, uh…if it's all the same with you kid, I might hang back for a bit longer. Paps has been on me all night, I could really use a breather."

"So you'd rather hide in the bathroom?"

A shrug. "I'm easily entertained." He shot him a mischievous grin. "Plus, it's kinda fun to watch him scramble around out there looking for me."

Frisk stifled a laugh. "Suit yourself, man. I'm just gonna try to get through this night without destroying the front half of my brain…"

…

His migraine never subsided. In fact, it only got worse.

He stuck around out of pure courtesy. But he couldn't have been more relieved when they finally made their way home.

He went straight to his bed. After a few minutes of moaning and groaning, he got up briefly to change out of his uncomfortable attire. Then once again he buried his face in his pillow, practically grinding it into his forehead in a fruitless effort to relieve that throbbing pain.

Eventually he managed to slink into the numbness of sleep.

Toriel grew worried for him as the night went on and he never emerged from his room. He'd insisted he only needed a nap... She glanced at the clock and sighed. She wasn't sure she'd feel comfortable leaving him home alone in this state…

She sat on the sofa. Paced. Checked the clock continuously.

At some point she paced into the kitchen, and, after preparing something, snuck into his room.

She moved cautiously, not wanting to stir or disturb the young man if he was out. After lingering in the doorway a few moments, she tried him.

"Frisk?" she whispered. "I brought you something, it might make you feel better-" She stopped mid-sentence at the sound of a muffled snore. For a minute she just stood there, watching the peaceful rise and fall of his body. "I'll just leave it here…" she spoke gently as she set a plate in the center of the rug.

The woman shuffled quietly to the doorway. Taking one last look at the sleeping boy, she smiled.

"Goodnight, my son."

With that, the door creaked soundly shut.

Frisk's body writhed about as he slept; his mind clearly tormented by something terrible.

It was a particularly violent thrash that woke him, but as soon as he opened his eyes, his dream was forgotten. Its after effect, however, was still plenty real.

As he sat up, he realized his entire torso, front to back, was drenched in sweat. There was a sick twisting in his stomach, and his heart pounded furiously.

The environment felt oddly controlled. A daunting stillness, like he was…

…

There was a sinking in his gut for a second. Gripping concern. He tried to disregard it, but the silence seemed to slice into his mind until it was ringing against his eardrums.

He sat there for a good 5 minutes. The sweating never stopped. That nagging fear never subsided. Eventually he got up, his movement stiff and a tad bit clumsy.

Something squished under his foot. It startled him, until the scent ebbed his alarm.

"What…?"

As he looked down at the pie chunk he had stepped on, he quickly noticed something else. There was an entire line of mess. A shattered dish, with bits of pie that scattered the floor. Like a plate of it was slewed across the room.

He locked up in his spot.

Urgently, he made for Toriel's bedroom.

Even with his anxiety at a peak, his movement was still hesitant as he cracked open the door.

"Tori…?" he whispered into the darkness.

He reached a shivering hand across the wall, eventually managing to hit the light switch.

The horrific sight he was met with obliterated him.

…

 _"_ _ _T…Tori?!__ ** _ ** _Mom!"_**_**

He shrieked, falling to his knees beside her. His hand shook over a long, deep gash across her chest. In his panic, his throat seemed to seal shut, suffocating his screams to high pitched wheezing.

 _"_ _ _Wh…wha- …Hah…"__ His hands shook uncontrollably. Tears dripped onto her lax face as his reeling brain tried to even begin to process this.

Her eyes were empty, slightly glossed over, staring mildly crossed at nothing. His palms raked into the cold, dampened fur.

Being on the surface it was an utterly gory scene; here, the woman's death was not softened by the process of disintegration.

This was a dead body.

This was __her__ dead body.

 _ _Shake and clutch at it all you want, she's not coming back, and she's not going away.__ The gravity of that injected itself into his gut all at once, and it nearly made him wretch.

Something else hit him in that moment.

His eyes locked on the swirling delirium that was the room as he currently saw it.

 _"_ _ _It…was you…wasn't it…?__ ** _ ** _Fuck!_**_** _ _God, tell me it wasn't you-!"__ he wheezed, eyes squinting painfully and distorting his vision even further.

"Actually…"

Frisk's entire body froze up. He whipped his torso around; Toriel's head was dropped negligently to the hardwood floor as he did so. His heart was stricken with pure petrification at the sight he beheld.

Chara stepped toward him, unfazed, smirking like the soulless bastard he was.

"It was you."

He blinked at him in utter shock, voice hitched and deranged. _"_ _ _W…wha…no…no, no, it- it couldn't- I wasn't- I was asleep! I-I was in bed the whole time-!"__

His face went pale, falling to a sickly white, even more so than the dead man before him, or the dead goat at his knees. Sweat began to sheen over his skin in a nauseating flux between polarized temperatures.

 _"_ _ _Y…you…y-you…used me…to…"__

Chara just cast his eyes on him with the same stoic expression.

 _"…_ _ _Why…? Why would you do this…? Why, why, why-?!"__

The man gazed down at him long and hard before he finally spoke; words falling out in disturbingly smooth contrast to the other's distressed sobs.

"Do you truly believe you deserve this?" Nonchalantly, he took a step closer. "Did you really think…that you could play God, time and time again, and still have a happy home waiting for you at the end of the day?"

 _"_ _ _I paid for my sins."__ he hissed under his breath. _"_ _ _I paid__ ** _ ** _you!"_**_**

The chuckling that followed made Frisk want to strangle that psychotic fuck. But his bones felt painfully heavy in his skin, and their weight kept him nailed to the floor.

With a soft sigh, Chara glanced down at Toriel's dead form.

"She had no idea, you know. She had no memories of your initial impressions. Your cruel apathy. Your selfish rage. She hadn't a damn clue."

Frisk squealed as he prodded the body with his foot.

"You were completely undeserving of her affections."

 _"_ _ _And what is that for you to decide?!"__ he snapped up at him.

Chara just stared at him. Frisk's voice trembled as he spoke.

"I __loved__ her!"

"Oh please, you killed her for sport."

His breath shook. _"_ _ _That…was before…"__

 _'"_ _ _Before I fucked some compassion into you?"'__

Frisk's teeth clenched hard, eyes boring with fearless hatred into the other's. _"_ _ _This was not your decision to make!"__ A quivering growl was emitted from his throat. "It was __theirs.__ It's their decision- whether they want to trust me or not- It's their decision whether or not I deserve this-! __Not.__ ** _ ** _Yours."_**_**

He broke down again, for just a few moments. Chara stood there patiently, seemingly indifferent to it all.

 _"_ _ _It was going fine-! Everything was just fine! Why did you-!"__ His throat constricted and strangled his voice. _"_ _ _She fuckin'__ ** _ ** _cared_**_** _ _about me, she- she would have forgiven me-!"__

"If only you had told her."

…

They remained there, wordless, save for Frisk's incoherent grievances.

A knock on the door nearly scared him out of his wits.

"Knock knock." a deep voice sounded from the other side.

…

Frisk's world stopped.

…

"Heh. See, this is the part where you say, 'Who's there?'"

…

The skeleton was once again met with uncomfortable silence. He chuckled awkwardly.

"Heh, I uh…I hope you're not mad at me for running late. See, I know we agreed on 9:30, but Paps told me I should run 'fashionably late,' but I, uh…heh…I wound up running regular late…"

…

"You'll forgive me though, right…?"

…

"Tori…?"

…

"Tori? Are you there?"

The moment the door clicked open, so did the epicenter of Frisk's core; and his consciousness was removed from that world.

…

Black.

Light.

Flowers.

 _ _Flowers.__

...

"Howdy!"

He screamed.

Black.

Light.

Flowers.

Black.

Light.

Flowers.

And again.

And again.

And again.

 _ _And again.__

"Howdy, I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"

He felt on the verge of tears.

Once more.

No change.

Each do-over only spiked in impulsiveness and rage.

He let it play. Then cut it off.

He felt himself shutting down.

 _ _Black, light, flowers, black, light, flowers, Flowey the flower-__

He screamed his lungs out before the bewildered plant could even introduce himself.

And with a click of his brain such first impressions were absolved over and over.

...

"...Er...kid? Human? Hello...?"

He lay there sobbing in the flower patch. His mind was swimming in a whirl of devastation, but clearly he was there long enough for the soulless flower to grow concerned for him...

...

Click.

He opened his eyes. Adrenaline coursed through his shaking limbs. His brain pulsed with blind rage as he glared hatefully at the foliage beneath him. Growling like a cornered animal, his fingers dug hard into the dirt, crushing several buttercups in the process.

...

"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"

...

"Hi Flowey..." he choked out with a pained smile, shuffling on hands and knees toward the other.

...

"Uh, hi..."

Frisk held that look, unblinking, tears dripping ceaselessly down his cheeks as he dared to brush the petals of that flower.

"Hey-! Hey, hey, hey-!" he protested, jerking away. "The hell are you doin'?!"

"...Sorry." he croaked.

...

"Just wanted to...to check...if you're real..." He drew in a long breath, laced under a choppy snicker, as he dug his dirtied nails hard into his forehead.

The flower's eyes flicked back and forth over the human in confusion, then alarm, as his nails had managed to pierce through his skin.

"Woah, wh...what is this...? You're scarin' me, kid."

...

 _"_ _ _Ha..."__ His smile twitched as he stared off into the distant cave. _"_ _ _I'm so sorry... Let me just...start over for you..."__

...

 _ _Black. Light. Flowers.__ "Howdy!"

Frisk couldn't help but laugh.


End file.
